Howard Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX)

Howard Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,997 shares of the company’s stock after selling 307 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in IDEXX Laboratories were worth $839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 59,810.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,856,950,000 after buying an additional 916,898 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 58.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,126,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,865,000 after purchasing an additional 414,802 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $156,412,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 221.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 441,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,459,000 after purchasing an additional 303,966 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories in the first quarter valued at $120,008,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at IDEXX Laboratories

In other news, Director M Anne Szostak sold 1,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.34, for a total transaction of $645,548.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,724.34. The trade was a 41.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on IDEXX Laboratories from $548.00 to $558.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of IDEXX Laboratories from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of IDEXX Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of IDEXX Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $625.00 price target for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price target on shares of IDEXX Laboratories from $580.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $557.88.

IDEXX Laboratories Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ IDXX opened at $572.09 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $530.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $469.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. has a 12-month low of $356.14 and a 12-month high of $579.47. The company has a market cap of $46.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.54.

IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $998.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $998.25 million. IDEXX Laboratories had a return on equity of 57.35% and a net margin of 22.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. will post 11.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEXX Laboratories Company Profile

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc develops, manufactures, and distributes products primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing markets in Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Companion Animal Group; Water Quality Products; and Livestock, Poultry and Dairy.