Short Interest in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Decreases By 10.6%

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) saw a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, a drop of 10.6% from the July 15th total of 1,420,000 shares. Currently, 6.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 258,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BIO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (down from $440.00) on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $401.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $362.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Rad Laboratories

In related news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.91, for a total value of $104,024.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,994.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in 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 buying an additional 634,311 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $73,142,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $135,081,000 after acquiring an additional 193,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,866,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

BIO stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $325.58. The stock had a trading volume of 372,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,710. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.43 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 6.57, a quick ratio of 4.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $308.20. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52 week low of $261.59 and a 52 week high of $406.44.

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 business had revenue of $638.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.79 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 51.73% and a positive return on equity of 3.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.