Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

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

TECH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $77.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,509,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,225,112. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.34, a PEG ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TECH. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 831.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after buying an additional 41,244 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 113.4% during the third quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 39,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 21,200 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 611,813 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,646,000 after acquiring an additional 61,190 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Bio-Techne by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.