Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,319 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,767 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.14% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $11,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,575,000 after purchasing an additional 32,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,105,000 after purchasing an additional 18,239 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIO opened at $304.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.16 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $281.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.73. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.14 and a twelve month high of $343.12.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 6.52%.Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.33.

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.