Parnassus Investments LLC Sells 63,188 Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Parnassus Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 252,140 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 63,188 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC owned approximately 0.93% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $76,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,575,000 after buying an additional 32,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,105,000 after buying an additional 18,239 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BIO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

BIO stock opened at $292.74 on Friday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a one year low of $222.80 and a one year high of $343.12. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $283.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.19. 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a PE ratio of 48.23 and a beta of 1.08.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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.