Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Stock Price Down 5.7% – Time to Sell?

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) dropped 5.7% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $359.18 and last traded at $356.1140. 108,769 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 315,435 shares. The stock had previously closed at $377.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $343.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 44.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $367.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $314.05.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.87. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 3.54%. The business had revenue of $651.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 8.3% in the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 954 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.1% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 3,746 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global life science research and clinical diagnostics company headquartered in Hercules, California. Founded in 1952, the company develops, manufactures and sells products that support scientific research, biotechnology production, medical testing and quality assurance.

Its Life Science segment provides instruments, reagents, consumables and software used in areas such as genomics, proteomics, cell biology, digital PCR, electrophoresis, chromatography and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.