Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Bio-Rad Laboratories shares gapped down at the open, falling from a prior close of $301.90 to an opening price of $290.50 before trading around $298.33.
• Recent analyst action has been mixed to negative, including downgrades from Citigroup and Zacks Research, while RBC initiated coverage with an outperform rating. Overall, MarketBeat shows an average rating of “Reduce” with a $303.33 target price.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat revenue expectations but missed earnings estimates, with EPS of $1.89 versus $1.97 expected. Revenue rose 1.1% year over year to $592.1 million, but profit was lower than a year ago.

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $301.90, but opened at $290.50. Bio-Rad Laboratories shares last traded at $298.3270, with a volume of 57,330 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Friday, May 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04 and a beta of 1.08. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $290.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.48.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 233,227 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $68,478,000 after purchasing an additional 85,393 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 38.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1,763.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 38,778 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $10,809,000 after buying an additional 36,697 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 22.9% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,932 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,114,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 16.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,198 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,794,000 after acquiring an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company's stock.

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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