IDEXX Laboratories Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:IDXX)

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 2,600 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 581% compared to the typical volume of 382 put options.

Institutional Trading of IDEXX Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IDXX. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in IDEXX Laboratories by 16.7% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 672 shares of the company's stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of IDEXX Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth $20,418,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the company's stock worth $5,825,000 after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,476,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,576,476,000 after buying an additional 98,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of IDEXX Laboratories by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 185,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,957,000 after acquiring an additional 12,647 shares during the last quarter. 87.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on IDXX. Barclays dropped their price target on IDEXX Laboratories from $570.00 to $481.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of IDEXX Laboratories from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $435.00 price objective (down previously from $520.00) on shares of IDEXX Laboratories in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of IDEXX Laboratories from $630.00 to $575.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on IDEXX Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $580.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, IDEXX Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $552.38.

IDEXX Laboratories Stock Performance

NASDAQ IDXX traded down $2.74 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $420.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 690,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,792. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $34.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.36. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $469.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $483.39. IDEXX Laboratories has a 12 month low of $404.74 and a 12 month high of $583.39.

IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $975.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $980.32 million. IDEXX Laboratories had a return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 22.53%. IDEXX Laboratories's revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IDEXX Laboratories will post 10.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About IDEXX Laboratories

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc develops, manufactures, and distributes products primarily for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy, and water testing markets in Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Companion Animal Group; Water Quality Products; and Livestock, Poultry and Dairy.