Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Short Interest Update

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 655,500 shares, an increase of 18.8% from the December 15th total of 551,600 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 183,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BIO. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 109,051 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,783,000 after purchasing an additional 9,185 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 348,540 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $95,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $135,081,000 after purchasing an additional 193,700 shares during the period. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on BIO shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $481.00 target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

NYSE BIO traded down $1.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $342.95. 124,273 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 140,854. The company has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.55 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.68. The company has a quick ratio of 4.52, a current ratio of 6.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 12-month low of $262.12 and a 12-month high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.85. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.3 EPS 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.