Short Interest in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Increases By 15.6%

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the November 15th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 927,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Bio-Techne by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.9% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,917 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 51.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $76.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 560,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,008,192. Bio-Techne has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $12.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.02, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.57. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

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.