Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 234 Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,107 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 234 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $14,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $3,561,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $510,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 63.0% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 217,885 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $72,900,000 after purchasing an additional 84,237 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 193.3% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $958,000. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BIO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $481.00 price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIO opened at $276.85 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $329.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.37. The firm has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.26 and a beta of 0.90. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 52 week low of $262.12 and a 52 week high of $387.99. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.04. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 71.86%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current 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.