Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO Shares Purchased by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 56.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,050 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BIO. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.6% in the first quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 256 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 813 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. RK Asset Management LLC increased its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. RK Asset Management LLC now owns 14,573 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,415,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 197 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BIO stock opened at $300.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $284.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.37. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1-year low of $236.73 and a 1-year high of $343.12. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.45 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of 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 investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.