Swiss National Bank Boosts Stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.21% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $19,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,421,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $837,467,000 after buying an additional 31,445 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 585.4% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,865 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $991,000 after acquiring an additional 2,447 shares during the last quarter. Natixis raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.4% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 1,986 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,839 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $446.00 to $469.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.80.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of BIO stock opened at $325.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 6.14 and a quick ratio of 4.52. The company has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of -11.93 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $340.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.33. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.12 and a 12 month high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $649.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $628.18 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 30.18%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Rad Laboratories news, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total transaction of $205,895.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 147 shares in the company, valued at $48,582.03. The trade was a 80.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total value of $989,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. This represents a 28.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories 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.