Brokerages Set Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Price Target at $327.40

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $327.40.

BIO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $409.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $355.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Up 6.6%

BIO stock opened at $254.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a PE ratio of -3.91 and a beta of 1.00. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a one year low of $215.38 and a one year high of $387.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 4.85 and a current ratio of 6.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $244.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.66.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $585.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 44,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,836,000 after purchasing an additional 21,669 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $958,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,824 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,570,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $753,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.