Commerce Bank Purchases New Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Commerce Bank purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 717 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BIO. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 193.8% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 94 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 140.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 77 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $446.00 to $469.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total transaction of $989,820.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. The trade was a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total transaction of $205,895.27. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,582.03. This trade represents a 80.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:BIO opened at $338.68 on Thursday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $262.12 and a 1 year high of $387.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $317.08. The company has a current ratio of 6.14, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a PE ratio of -12.39 and a beta of 0.93.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.85. The company had revenue of $649.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $628.18 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 30.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Profile

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets.