Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $409.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $355.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two 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 target price of $324.25.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of BIO stock opened at $225.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.47 and a beta of 0.93. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a twelve month low of $211.43 and a twelve month high of $387.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $236.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $284.32. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.81. The firm had revenue of $585.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.01 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 71.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 712 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 265 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 713 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 98 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

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.