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

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.57.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $67.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 68.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year 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 3.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.11.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth about $59,000. 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.