Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Shares Purchased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 68.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,792 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,588 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $2,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.0% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 375 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 139.8% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 458 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 480 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, FDx Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $214,000. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 available through this link. Insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $484.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.00.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $275.94 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $316.96. The company has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.84 and a beta of 0.87. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $261.59 and a 1 year high of $473.50. 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 (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $681.18 million for 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 business’s revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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.