Short Interest in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Rises By 12.9%

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 551,600 shares, a growth of 12.9% from the November 30th total of 488,600 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 196,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 999 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 140.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 77 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 38.1% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 297 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 6.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,632 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.7% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 14,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,645,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BIO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $369.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $394.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

BIO stock traded down $4.53 on Monday, reaching $326.34. The company had a trading volume of 101,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 239,531. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.52 and a current ratio of 6.14. The company has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.94 and a beta of 0.90. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1 year low of $262.12 and a 1 year high of $387.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $339.67 and its 200 day moving average is $324.45.

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

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company 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.