Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.9231.

TECH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Leerink Partners set a $73.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Evercore lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 9th.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $72.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a current ratio of 4.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.26. The company has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.96, a P/E/G ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne has a 52-week low of $43.19 and a 52-week high of $72.43.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 14.97%.The business had revenue of $321.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Bio-Techne’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,379,000 after acquiring an additional 113,634 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 506.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1,085.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 105,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 96,527 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 82.6% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 24,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 11,306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.