Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives $72.00 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

Several analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,173 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 544,058 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $39,188,000 after purchasing an additional 22,145 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $1,462,000. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $49.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 3.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.35. The firm has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.38. Bio-Techne has a twelve month low of $46.01 and a twelve month high of $83.62.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.