Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Makes New Investment in IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC bought a new position in shares of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 31,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,400,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IDXX. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in IDEXX Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $412,258,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE grew its stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 5,439.3% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 473,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,696,000 after buying an additional 464,791 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $156,412,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 701.6% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 422,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,527,000 after buying an additional 369,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IDXX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on IDEXX Laboratories from $548.00 to $558.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen cut IDEXX Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on IDEXX Laboratories from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $536.00.

IDEXX Laboratories Trading Up 1.4%

IDXX opened at $525.93 on Wednesday. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. has a 12 month low of $356.14 and a 12 month high of $530.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.29, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $464.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $442.33.

IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.03. IDEXX Laboratories had a return on equity of 55.82% and a net margin of 22.78%. The firm had revenue of $998.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $998.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. IDEXX Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. will post 11.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IDEXX Laboratories news, Director M Anne Szostak sold 1,046 shares of IDEXX Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.74, for a total transaction of $537,372.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,599.88. The trade was a 79.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About IDEXX Laboratories

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.