Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO Shares Sold by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC cut its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 177,083 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,762 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $53,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BIO. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,294 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,634,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 137,217 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,575,000 after buying an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 388.9% during the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 15,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,671,000 after buying an additional 12,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $250,000. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BIO. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup downgraded 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of BIO stock opened at $297.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $283.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.45. The firm has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.93 and a beta of 1.08. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $222.80 and a 1 year high of $343.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a current ratio of 3.21.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 earnings per share for the current 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.