Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Short Interest Update

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 655,500 shares, a growth of 18.8% from the December 15th total of 551,600 shares. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 183,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,303,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $436,861,000 after acquiring an additional 644,530 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 649,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $177,391,000 after buying an additional 134,856 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,773,000 after buying an additional 634,311 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 606,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $165,720,000 after buying an additional 91,882 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,081,000 after buying an additional 193,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

BIO stock traded down $1.52 on Friday, hitting $342.95. 124,273 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 140,854. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 12-month low of $262.12 and a 12-month high of $387.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $336.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $330.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a current ratio of 6.14. The stock has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.55 and a beta of 0.90.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.85. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 30.18%. The firm had revenue of $649.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $628.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BIO shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $481.00 target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.