Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Short Interest Update

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 488,600 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the November 15th total of 524,400 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 284,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BIO shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $369.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 1.1 %

BIO traded down $3.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $339.12. 141,451 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 241,074. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $341.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $321.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.56 and a beta of 0.90. 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 has a 52 week low of $262.12 and a 52 week high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $649.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $628.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $173,773,000 after acquiring an additional 634,311 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 44,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,836,000 after acquiring an additional 21,669 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 63.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 217,885 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $72,900,000 after acquiring an additional 84,237 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 193.3% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 341.7% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 5,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

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.