IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) Lifted to Buy at CL King

CL King upgraded shares of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on IDXX. Zacks Investment Research cut IDEXX Laboratories from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of IDEXX Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. BidaskClub raised IDEXX Laboratories from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of IDEXX Laboratories in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $167.25.

Shares of IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX) traded up 1.90% on Friday, hitting $167.52. The stock had a trading volume of 482,309 shares. The company has a market cap of $14.76 billion, a PE ratio of 62.07 and a beta of 0.48. IDEXX Laboratories has a 52 week low of $93.14 and a 52 week high of $173.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $164.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.37.

IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.16. IDEXX Laboratories had a negative return on equity of 706.91% and a net margin of 13.47%. The company had revenue of $462 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $455.10 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that IDEXX Laboratories will post $3.07 EPS for the current year.

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IDEXX Laboratories announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 3rd that permits the company to buyback 3,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

In related news, Director William T. End sold 5,000 shares of IDEXX Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.55, for a total transaction of $812,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 45,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,356,362.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Jonathan W. Ayers sold 26,000 shares of IDEXX Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.61, for a total value of $4,175,860.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 75,272 shares of company stock valued at $12,264,082. 2.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1st Global Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in IDEXX Laboratories by 1.2% in the first quarter. 1st Global Advisors Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in IDEXX Laboratories by 76.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 20,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,135,000 after buying an additional 8,792 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. purchased a new stake in IDEXX Laboratories during the first quarter valued at $225,000. AXA boosted its stake in IDEXX Laboratories by 52.0% in the first quarter. AXA now owns 346,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,587,000 after buying an additional 118,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in IDEXX Laboratories by 0.3% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 282,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,690,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. 89.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About IDEXX Laboratories

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc develops, manufactures and distributes products and provides services for the companion animal veterinary, livestock and poultry, dairy and water testing markets. The Company also sells a line of portable electrolytes and blood gas analyzers for the human point-of-care medical diagnostics market.