Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $83.90.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $63.69 on Friday. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.35 and a 200 day moving average of $68.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 4.37 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $277.48 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 23.19%.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally.