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

Key Points

• Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average analyst recommendation of "Reduce" from five firms, with two sell ratings, two hold ratings, and one buy rating. The average 12-month price target is about $303.33.
• The company’s latest quarterly results missed earnings expectations, reporting $1.89 EPS versus the expected $1.97, though revenue of $592.1 million came in slightly ahead of estimates and rose 1.1% year over year.
• Recent analyst action has been mixed but mostly cautious, including downgrades from Citigroup and Zacks Research and lower price targets from Wells Fargo, even as RBC initiated coverage with an outperform rating.

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $303.3333.

A number of analysts have issued reports on BIO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

BIO opened at $304.61 on Friday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52-week low of $236.73 and a 52-week high of $343.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a current ratio of 3.21. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $288.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.18 and a beta of 1.08.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 6.52%.Bio-Rad Laboratories's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 9.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BIO. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $7,382,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $25,575,000 after buying an additional 32,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $9,105,000 after purchasing an additional 18,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in 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 worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.