Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $300.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $375.00.

BIO has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $339.75.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:BIO opened at $277.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $277.57 and its 200 day moving average is $298.44. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $211.43 and a fifty-two week high of $343.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 5.62.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical research company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.57 by ($0.06). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 29.42% and a return on equity of 3.86%. The company had revenue of $693.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $694.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after purchasing an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,575,000 after purchasing an additional 32,874 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,105,000 after purchasing an additional 18,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products. The company operates through two primary business segments: Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. Within the Life Science segment, Bio-Rad offers instruments, reagents and consumables for protein analysis, cell biology, gene expression and other molecular biology applications. The Clinical Diagnostics segment supplies quality control products, blood-typing reagents and instruments, and molecular diagnostic assays used in blood screening, infectious disease testing and routine clinical laboratories.

Founded in 1952 by David and Alice Schwartz and headquartered in Hercules, California, Bio-Rad has grown its footprint across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions.