Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.14.

TECH has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TECH. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position 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 worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,843 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Bio-Techne by 6.0% in the third quarter. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd now owns 323,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,817,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 5.2% in the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 54,760 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,377,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $64.37 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 65.02, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $58.98 and a 12 month high of $85.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.61 and a 200-day moving average of $72.68.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.