Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $12.70 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,964 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,426 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $12,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $173,773,000 after purchasing an additional 634,311 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the first quarter worth $1,824,000. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 16.8% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 41,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,457,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 320.6% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $446.00 to $469.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.80.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 8.5 %

NYSE BIO opened at $320.31 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $340.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $314.67. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $262.12 and a twelve month high of $387.99. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a PE ratio of -11.72 and a beta of 0.93.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $649.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $628.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total value of $205,895.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,582.03. This represents a 80.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total transaction of $989,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,494,016.46. This trade represents a 28.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

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.