Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO Shares Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 253.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,985 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,027 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $18,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 115.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 197 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on BIO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on 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. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Up 6.6%

Shares of NYSE:BIO opened at $298.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $284.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 12-month low of $236.73 and a 12-month high of $343.12. The firm has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.17 and a beta of 1.08.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The company had revenue of $592.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS for the current year.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

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.