AYAL Capital Advisors Ltd Buys Shares of 13,600 Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

AYAL Capital Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,600 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $4,468,000. Bio-Rad Laboratories makes up 1.2% of AYAL Capital Advisors Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 712 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 265 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 109 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,530 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,488,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 900 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $355.00 to $310.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $327.40.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

BIO stock traded up $9.56 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $242.11. 82,269 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 317,864. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $244.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.95. The firm has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.72 and a beta of 1.00. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.38 and a 1-year high of $387.99. 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 (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.81. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 71.86%. The company had revenue of $585.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $573.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Bio-Rad Laboratories's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current 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.