Wall Street Zen Downgrades Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) to Hold

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

BIO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $409.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.25.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIO traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $230.41. The stock had a trading volume of 486,153 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,715. The company has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of -3.54 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $283.58. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1 year low of $211.43 and a 1 year high of $387.99. The company has a quick ratio of 4.85, a current ratio of 6.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $585.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2,175.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 342.9% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 98 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.