Bio-Techne Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 (NASDAQ:TECH)

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the biotechnology company on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th.

Bio-Techne has a payout ratio of 15.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bio-Techne to earn $1.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.7%.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $73.41. The company had a trading volume of 82,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,086,405. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $69.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.44. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 4.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a PE ratio of 53.23, a PEG ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 19.58%. The business had revenue of $303.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.00.

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.