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

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 862,700 shares, an increase of 41.4% from the February 13th total of 610,000 shares. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 230,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $342,686,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 705.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 427,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $140,370,000 after buying an additional 374,269 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at $83,681,000. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 560,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $184,138,000 after acquiring an additional 181,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $41,644,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

BIO opened at $256.35 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $310.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $327.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 6.48 and a quick ratio of 4.85. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.94 and a beta of 0.98. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1-year low of $244.00 and a 1-year high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.04. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 71.86%. Research analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $481.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $360.00 to $345.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Rad Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.20.

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.