Gladius Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 96 Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 96 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BIO. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,773,000 after acquiring an additional 634,311 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% in 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 period. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.2% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 649,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $177,391,000 after purchasing an additional 134,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 30.8% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 514,906 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $178,091,000 after purchasing an additional 121,272 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Bio-Rad Laboratories

In related news, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total transaction of $205,895.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,582.03. The trade was a 80.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total value of $989,820.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $320.31 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $340.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 6.14 and a quick ratio of 4.52. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $262.12 and a 1 year high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.85. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 30.18%. The company had revenue of $649.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $628.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BIO shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $446.00 to $469.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.80.

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.