Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.00.

TECH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH opened at $77.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.97, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.53. Bio-Techne has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.