Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

TECH has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH stock opened at $63.45 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.56. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $72.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 4.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $295.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.20 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 6.67%.The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 62.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 109.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 68.1% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.