Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Abaxis Inc (NASDAQ:ABAX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday, ARN reports.

According to Zacks, “Abaxis delivered a mixed financial performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, wherein the bottom line exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate but the top line failed to meet the same. Tough currency headwind in the international market continues to pose challenge affecting Abaxis’ overall business by 16% in the reported quarter. On a brighter note, Abaxis managed to deliver double-digit growth in its overall business at CER. In the reported quarter, Abaxis, for the first time, offered its Anaplasma and Feline tests. We believe these test offerings will increase Abaxis’ market share in the near future. However, challenges exist in the form of increasing competition for instrument placements in the vet marketplace.”

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ABAX. Canaccord Genuity restated a hold rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Abaxis in a research report on Friday. Vetr downgraded Abaxis from a buy rating to a strong sell rating and set a $47.33 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Abaxis from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and decreased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Abaxis presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $51.27.

Abaxis (NASDAQ:ABAX) opened at 51.99 on Monday. Abaxis has a 12 month low of $41.53 and a 12 month high of $66.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.10. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion and a P/E ratio of 37.30.

In related news, VP Craig Tockman sold 560 shares of Abaxis stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.44, for a total transaction of $30,486.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,189 shares in the company, valued at $64,729.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Other institutional investors recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simplex Trading bought a new position in shares of Abaxis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $0. KBC Group bought a new position in shares of Abaxis during the third quarter worth approximately $393,000. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Abaxis by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors now owns 399,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,249,000 after buying an additional 173,648 shares during the last quarter.

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 operates through the two segments: the medical market and the veterinary market. The Company’s medical market customer group consists of physicians’ office practices across multiple specialties, urgent care, outpatient and walk-in clinics, health screening operations, home care providers and nursing homes. The Company’s medical market products include: Piccolo chemistry analyzers and consumable products. The Company’s veterinary market product offerings include VetScan chemistry analyzers and veterinary reagent discs, VetScan hematology instruments and related reagent kits, VetScan VSpro specialty analyzers and related consumables, VetScan i-STAT analyzers and related consumables and VetScan rapid tests.

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