Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Now Covered by Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $75.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

TECH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $62.83 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $68.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $56.60 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Bio-Techne

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.