Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 17,814 Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 135,057 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,814 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $44,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,919,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $630,676,000 after buying an additional 12,168 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $342,686,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 271,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $89,156,000 after acquiring an additional 18,873 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 256,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $84,403,000 after purchasing an additional 39,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 191,867 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,030,000 after purchasing an additional 7,552 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BIO has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $481.00 price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $360.00 to $345.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 4.1 %

BIO opened at $225.21 on Friday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.18 and a twelve month high of $387.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $281.98 and a 200-day moving average of $319.49. The stock has a market cap of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of -3.46 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 4.85, a current ratio of 6.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.04. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 71.86%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company 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.