Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives $82.14 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.14.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $62.16 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 62.79, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.30. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $56.60 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,661,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $312,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,082,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 284.6% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,244 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,763,000 after buying an additional 38,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. 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.