Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Price Target to $60.00

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) had its price objective lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $75.00 to $60.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $49.98 on Thursday. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $85.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $767,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $275,188,000 after acquiring an additional 358,756 shares during the period. 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.