Ballentine Partners LLC Invests $213,000 in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 615 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $73,142,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,866,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter worth approximately $62,351,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 454.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 144,333 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,604,000 after buying an additional 118,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 351,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $125,999,000 after buying an additional 71,570 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 369 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,573 shares in the company, valued at $1,852,994.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 17.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

BIO stock opened at $278.16 on Thursday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a one year low of $261.59 and a one year high of $431.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $284.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $310.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 4.89 and a current ratio of 6.57. The company has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of -26.85 and a beta of 0.95.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.25. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 12.37% and a positive return on equity of 3.59%. The firm had revenue of $610.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $619.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.