Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Short Interest Up 41.4% in February

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 862,700 shares, a growth of 41.4% from the February 13th total of 610,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 230,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIO traded up $1.90 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $256.35. 518,860 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 263,669. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52 week low of $244.00 and a 52 week high of $387.99. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $311.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $328.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of -3.94 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 4.85, a current ratio of 6.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.04. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 71.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,494,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,052 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $2,211,000. Finally, Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $6,663,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $481.00 target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $360.00 to $345.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.20.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

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.