Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $343.3333.

Several research firms have recently commented on BIO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,117,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 256 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 813 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 197 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:BIO opened at $361.57 on Thursday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52 week low of $236.73 and a 52 week high of $362.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $306.29 and a 200 day moving average of $289.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.83 and a beta of 1.06.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $651.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.99 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.54% and a net margin of 8.59%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products. The company operates through two primary business segments: Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. Within the Life Science segment, Bio-Rad offers instruments, reagents and consumables for protein analysis, cell biology, gene expression and other molecular biology applications. The Clinical Diagnostics segment supplies quality control products, blood-typing reagents and instruments, and molecular diagnostic assays used in blood screening, infectious disease testing and routine clinical laboratories.

Founded in 1952 by David and Alice Schwartz and headquartered in Hercules, California, Bio-Rad has grown its footprint across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions.