Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $60.34 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.95, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. Bio-Techne has a 1-year low of $56.60 and a 1-year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 41.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 19,043 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 5,601 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 38.5% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 22,959 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 158,056 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,633,000 after purchasing an additional 16,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.