Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives $81.25 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $81.25.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TECH. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock opened at $51.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.78. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $50.35 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,883 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.4% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,830 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 86,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,922,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 47.6% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 5,274 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.6% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 66,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,314,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is 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.