Bio-Techne’s (TECH) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their buy rating on shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a sector outperform rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.2 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $77.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.88 and a current ratio of 4.08. The company has a market capitalization of $12.15 billion, a PE ratio of 61.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $89.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $69.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the first quarter worth about $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.