Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 18,290 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,098,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 115.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BIO. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE BIO opened at $325.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.62 and a beta of 1.08. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 12-month low of $236.73 and a 12-month high of $343.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $299.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.85.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 6.52%.The business had revenue of $592.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Profile

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.