Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,243 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,469 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.42% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $39,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,773,000 after buying an additional 634,311 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 44,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,836,000 after acquiring an additional 21,669 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 63.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 217,885 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $72,900,000 after acquiring an additional 84,237 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 193.3% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 341.7% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 5,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BIO shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $369.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 1.7 %

BIO opened at $337.28 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $341.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.34 and a beta of 0.90. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $262.12 and a fifty-two week high of $387.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a current ratio of 6.14.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $649.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $628.18 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 30.18%. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.29 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.