Norges Bank Invests $34.60 Million in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 114,194 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,600,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $113,000. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $210,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $438,000. Finally, Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $833,000. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BIO. 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 research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BIO stock opened at $291.73 on Tuesday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 52-week low of $219.94 and a 52-week high of $343.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a current ratio of 3.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of 48.06 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $282.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.50.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS for the current fiscal 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.