Meridian Bioscience - VIVO Stock Forecast, Price & News

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., a life science company, develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells diagnostic test kits primarily for gastrointestinal and respiratory infectious diseases, and elevated blood lead levels worldwide. The company operates through Diagnostics and Life Science segments. The Diagnostics segment offers testing platforms, including real-time PCR amplification under the Revogene brand; isothermal DNA amplification under the Alethia brand; lateral flow immunoassay using fluorescent chemistry under the Curian brand; rapid immunoassay under the ImmunoCard and ImmunoCard STAT! brands; enzyme-linked immunoassays under the PREMIER brand; anodic stripping voltammetry under the LeadCare brands; and urea breath testing for H. pylori under the BreathID and BreathTek brand. This segment also offers respiratory illness assays, such as tests Group A strep, mycoplasma pneumonia, influenza, and pertussis; and blood chemistry products for LeadCare test kits for the detection of lead in blood. It sells products through direct sales force and independent distributors to acute care hospitals, reference laboratories, outpatient clinics, and physician office laboratories. The Life Science segment offers bulk antigens, antibodies, PCR/qPCR reagents, nucleotides, and bioresearch reagents used by in vitro diagnostic manufacturers, as well as researchers in immunological and molecular tests for human, animal, plant, and environmental applications. Meridian Bioscience, Inc. was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Meridian Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VIVO traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $32.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 322,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 652,731. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 3.52. Meridian Bioscience has a 1-year low of $17.20 and a 1-year high of $34.38. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04 and a beta of 0.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VIVO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Meridian Bioscience from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair lowered Meridian Bioscience from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered Meridian Bioscience from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Friday, July 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John P. Kenny sold 44,651 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $1,327,027.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,879,693.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO John P. Kenny sold 44,651 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $1,327,027.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 265,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,879,693.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John P. Kenny sold 61,437 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.39, for a total transaction of $1,867,070.43. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 265,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,057,331.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,647 shares of company stock valued at $3,600,868 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.