Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 21,669 Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 95.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,669 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.16% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $14,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the second quarter worth $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,773,000 after acquiring an additional 634,311 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $83,681,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $135,081,000 after acquiring an additional 193,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.2% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 649,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $177,391,000 after purchasing an additional 134,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $369.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BIO stock opened at $330.87 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $339.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.16. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $262.12 and a 1 year high of $387.99. The company has a current ratio of 6.14, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $649.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $628.18 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 30.18%. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company 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.