Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.7692.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Argus upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $57.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a current ratio of 4.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.15 and a 200-day moving average of $59.77. The company has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 112.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.48. Bio-Techne has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $72.16.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 62.75%.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $1,300,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,734,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $337,219,000 after buying an additional 618,916 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Peaks Capital LP grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Alpine Peaks Capital LP now owns 51,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,029,000 after buying an additional 15,500 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 118,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,987,000 after acquiring an additional 20,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 26,087 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 7,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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.