Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp lifted 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $60.24 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $70.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.85, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $56.60 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.2% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 261,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.5% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,794 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 58.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.