Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH)

Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 10,205 call options on the company. This is an increase of 788% compared to the average volume of 1,149 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 506.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.5%

TECH stock traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $71.07. 5,576,700 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,036,105. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 4.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.99, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.99. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $43.19 and a 12-month high of $72.16.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 9.05%.The company had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bio-Techne will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 46.38%.

Trending Headlines about Bio-Techne

Here are the key news stories impacting Bio-Techne this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Merck KGaA will buy Bio-Techne for $73 per share in cash, a sizable premium to the prior trading price and a clear takeover price that is pulling the stock toward the deal value. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The acquisition should expand Merck’s life sciences, diagnostics, and bioprocessing footprint, and the buyer said it expects the deal to be accretive over time with meaningful cost synergies, which supports the strategic logic of the transaction. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners set a $73.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $76.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $49.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.07.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.