Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $395.20.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $481.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $360.00 to $345.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $342,686,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 97.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,303,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $436,861,000 after acquiring an additional 644,530 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 705.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 427,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $140,370,000 after acquiring an additional 374,269 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $83,681,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 560,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $184,138,000 after acquiring an additional 181,829 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 2.2 %

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $279.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 6.48 and a quick ratio of 4.85. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1 year low of $262.12 and a 1 year high of $387.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $332.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $334.28.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 earnings per share 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.