Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Price Target to $61.00

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank Of Canada from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, May 30th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased 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, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.42.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH opened at $50.42 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.31 and a 200-day moving average of $56.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.61, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.40. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $80.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $316.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.57%.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 19,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth $1,362,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 3,534.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 105,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,170,000 after acquiring an additional 102,345 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. 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.