Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 454.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 144,333 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 118,304 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.51% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $46,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BIO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $73,142,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,866,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,351,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 351,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $125,999,000 after acquiring an additional 71,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 303.5% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 73,610 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $23,768,000 after acquiring an additional 55,369 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Rad Laboratories news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 369 shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.91, for a total value of $104,024.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,994.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 price target (down from $440.00) on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $436.67.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

BIO opened at $285.62 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $311.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 4.89 and a current ratio of 6.57. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $261.59 and a 1 year high of $431.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of -27.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $610.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $619.09 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 12.37% and a positive return on equity of 3.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.8 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories 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.