Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO)

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $401.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 23.80% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on BIO. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 target price (down from $440.00) on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $362.75.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIO traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $323.91. 29,692 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 225,538. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.22 and a beta of 0.93. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a one year low of $261.59 and a one year high of $406.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 4.89 and a current ratio of 6.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $299.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $308.40.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.99. The company had revenue of $638.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.79 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.56% and a negative net margin of 51.73%. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Rad Laboratories news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.91, for a total transaction of $104,024.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,994.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,773,000 after purchasing an additional 634,311 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $73,142,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,081,000 after purchasing an additional 193,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $61,866,000. 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.