LPL Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO - Free Report) by 34.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,195 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 56.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,016 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,351,000 after buying an additional 3,601 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 5,361 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 416.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 23,260 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,782,000 after acquiring an additional 18,760 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 44,341 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $14,836,000 after purchasing an additional 21,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 665 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $481.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BIO traded up $8.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $245.28. The company had a trading volume of 215,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 318,258. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $252.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $310.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.77 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 6.48 and a quick ratio of 4.85. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $215.38 and a twelve month high of $387.99.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.81 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.