Meridian Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.16, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $50.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.13 million. Meridian Bioscience had a net margin of 10.77% and a return on equity of 16.93%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. Meridian Bioscience updated its FY17 guidance to $0.64-0.69 EPS.
Shares of Meridian Bioscience (VIVO) traded up 0.74% during trading on Friday, hitting $13.70. 145,971 shares of the stock were exchanged. The stock has a market cap of $578.17 million, a PE ratio of 27.40 and a beta of 0.89. Meridian Bioscience has a one year low of $10.75 and a one year high of $19.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.12.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 3rd. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Meridian Bioscience’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.04%.
Several equities analysts have commented on VIVO shares. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Meridian Bioscience from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Canaccord Genuity increased their price target on shares of Meridian Bioscience from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, BidaskClub lowered shares of Meridian Bioscience from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.75.
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VIVO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meridian Bioscience during the fourth quarter worth about $20,108,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Meridian Bioscience by 50.2% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 767,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,593,000 after buying an additional 256,571 shares during the last quarter. Clark Estates Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Meridian Bioscience during the first quarter valued at about $3,133,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Meridian Bioscience by 148.5% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 353,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,873,000 after buying an additional 211,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Meridian Bioscience by 15.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,243,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,164,000 after buying an additional 163,770 shares in the last quarter. 85.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Meridian Bioscience
Meridian Bioscience, Inc is a life science company engaged in the development, manufacture, sale and distribution of diagnostic test kits for gastrointestinal, viral, respiratory and parasitic infectious diseases, and elevated blood lead levels, and the manufacture and distribution of bulk antigens, antibodies, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/quantitative PCR (qPCR) reagents, nucleotides, competent cells and bioresearch reagents used by researchers and other diagnostic manufacturers.
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