Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 20.5% in March to 1,214,228 shares (about 5.4% of shares outstanding) with a days-to-cover ratio of 3.4, signaling increased bearish positioning.
• Several analysts have cut outlooks—Citigroup downgraded BIO to Neutral and trimmed its price target to $300—leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Hold and a $339.75 target.
• Bio‑Rad slightly missed its latest quarter (EPS $2.51 vs. $2.57 expected; revenue $693.2M vs. $694.6M) and the stock trades near $298.70 with a market cap of $8.06B and a PE of 10.7.

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,214,228 shares, a growth of 20.5% from the March 15th total of 1,008,034 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 357,785 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 5.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BIO shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $339.75.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

BIO traded up $7.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $298.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 186,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,677. The company has a current ratio of 5.62, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $211.43 and a fifty-two week high of $343.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $298.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.16.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical research company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by ($0.06). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 29.42% and a return on equity of 3.86%. The business had revenue of $693.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $694.64 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.90 earnings per share. Bio-Rad Laboratories's revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 52.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 104 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 24.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 207 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 256 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,954 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 813 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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