Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Stock Price

Key Points

• Wells Fargo cut its price target on Bio‑Rad from $320 to $290 and maintained an "equal weight" rating, a target the firm says implies roughly a 16% upside from the current share price.
• Shares plunged about 10.8% to $249.86 after Bio‑Rad reported Q results that missed EPS expectations ($1.89 vs. $1.97) despite a slight revenue beat of $592.1M.
• Other brokers have also trimmed ratings (e.g., Citigroup to "neutral" with a $300 target), leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Hold" and an average analyst price target around $327.25.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the medical research company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.07% from the company's current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $327.25.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 10.8%

Shares of BIO traded down $30.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $249.86. The company had a trading volume of 158,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,232. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1-year low of $211.43 and a 1-year high of $343.12. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $298.20. The company has a quick ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 5.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 29.42%.The company had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.54 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 134,767 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $40,154,000 after purchasing an additional 4,262 shares during the last quarter. Sector Gamma AS increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 22,827 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,998 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 67.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 65,069 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $18,245,000 after purchasing an additional 26,119 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 124,626 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $34,944,000 after purchasing an additional 36,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 461.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,988 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 7,386 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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.