Analysts Set Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Price Target at $81.14

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.14.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $50.49 on Tuesday. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $85.57. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 51.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in Bio-Techne by 3.4% in the first quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 188,035 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,024,000 after acquiring an additional 6,101 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 18.5% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,025,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,380,000 after acquiring an additional 472,847 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,385.0% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 198,039 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,611,000 after purchasing an additional 184,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 817,801 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,948,000 after purchasing an additional 83,126 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.