Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BIO. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 reduced their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $409.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $355.00 to $310.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $330.50.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:BIO traded up $1.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $222.24. 246,313 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 326,821. The company has a current ratio of 6.48, a quick ratio of 4.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52-week low of $211.43 and a 52-week high of $387.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.42 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $237.43 and its 200-day moving average is $286.96.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $585.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $573.01 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 71.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $3,561,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $510,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 84,677 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $27,817,000 after purchasing an additional 27,780 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 5,195 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 190.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 2,176 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.