Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of ABAXIS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABAX) in a research note published on Friday, July 14th. The brokerage currently has a $48.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.
Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on ABAX. Aegis assumed coverage on ABAXIS in a report on Friday, June 9th. They set a hold rating and a $56.50 price target on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised ABAXIS from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $47.88.
Shares of ABAXIS (NASDAQ ABAX) traded down 8.39% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.62. 307,733 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. ABAXIS has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $55.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.89 and its 200-day moving average is $49.57.
ABAXIS (NASDAQ:ABAX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The medical research company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $58.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.37 million. ABAXIS had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 14.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ABAXIS will post $1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 30th. ABAXIS’s payout ratio is 39.16%.
In other news, Director Achim Henkel sold 8,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.75, for a total transaction of $413,037.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,254,162.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ABAXIS by 31.5% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,188 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of ABAXIS by 11.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Invictus RG bought a new stake in shares of ABAXIS during the first quarter valued at about $112,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of ABAXIS by 2.0% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 2,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its stake in shares of ABAXIS by 8.7% in the first quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,129 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About ABAXIS
Abaxis, Inc is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of portable blood analysis systems that are used in medical specialties in human or veterinary patient care to provide clinicians with blood constituent measurements. The Company markets and sells its products around the world through independent distributors and direct sales force.
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