Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have an average rating of “Hold” on Bio‑Rad from five brokerages (1 sell, 3 hold, 1 buy) with a consensus 12‑month target price of $333.00.
• Several major firms have recently downgraded the stock and trimmed price targets—Citigroup cut its target from $375 to $300, Wells Fargo from $320 to $290, and Wall Street Zen moved to a hold—indicating softer near‑term expectations.
• Recent quarterly results showed an EPS miss ($1.89 vs. $1.97 expected) while revenue was $592.1M (up 1.1% YoY); the stock trades at a PE of 42.47 with a market cap around $6.96B.

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $333.00.

BIO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,382,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $25,575,000 after buying an additional 32,874 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $9,105,000 after buying an additional 18,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,192 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE BIO opened at $257.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.37. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1 year low of $211.43 and a 1 year high of $343.12. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a PE ratio of 42.47 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $277.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $298.11.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The company had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products. The company operates through two primary business segments: Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. Within the Life Science segment, Bio-Rad offers instruments, reagents and consumables for protein analysis, cell biology, gene expression and other molecular biology applications. The Clinical Diagnostics segment supplies quality control products, blood-typing reagents and instruments, and molecular diagnostic assays used in blood screening, infectious disease testing and routine clinical laboratories.

Founded in 1952 by David and Alice Schwartz and headquartered in Hercules, California, Bio-Rad has grown its footprint across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions.

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