Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on BIO. Weiss Ratings downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Citigroup lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 0.3%

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $298.45 on Monday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52-week low of $236.73 and a 52-week high of $343.12. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.17 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $286.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.55.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $592.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 9.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,570,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $778,828,000 after acquiring an additional 50,154 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,089,323 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $303,637,000 after acquiring an additional 12,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 494,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $149,820,000 after acquiring an additional 76,117 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 459,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $128,948,000 after purchasing an additional 7,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4,534.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 399,207 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $120,956,000 after purchasing an additional 390,593 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company 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.