Wall Street Zen Upgrades Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) to “Buy”

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BIO. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $409.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $260.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $355.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.25.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $251.56 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $235.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.11. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.30 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 4.43 and a current ratio of 5.99. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a one year low of $211.43 and a one year high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.81. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 4.32% and a negative net margin of 85.16%. The business had revenue of $585.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.01 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 7,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 35.2% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 5,195 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,050 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

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.