Natixis Advisors L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,744 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,152 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $6,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 352 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,512. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:BIO opened at $277.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 5.83 and a quick ratio of 4.34. The firm has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a PE ratio of -12.90 and a beta of 0.94. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1-year low of $261.59 and a 1-year high of $431.79.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The medical research company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.25. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 23.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. The business had revenue of $610.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $619.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.41 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BIO shares. Citigroup cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $420.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $484.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $461.00.

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.