Cerity Partners LLC Invests $288,000 in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 891 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.0% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 375 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 139.8% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 458 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 480 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, FDx Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $484.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.00.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Rad Laboratories

In other news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.00, for a total transaction of $1,008,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,332,512. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:BIO opened at $275.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a PE ratio of -12.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 5.83. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $261.59 and a fifty-two week high of $473.50.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $681.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.00 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 23.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.