Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Shares Bought by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 149,293 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.53% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $49,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 173.3% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,968 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,961,000 after purchasing an additional 3,784 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,919,808 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $630,676,000 after buying an additional 12,168 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 5,195 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,026,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $2,332,000. 65.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:BIO opened at $243.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.74 and a beta of 0.98. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $241.87 and a twelve month high of $387.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $293.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.49. The company has a current ratio of 6.48, a quick ratio of 4.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.04. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 71.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.