Analysts Set Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Target Price at $72.77

Shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.7692.

Several research firms have recently commented on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $51.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 100.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.48. Bio-Techne has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $72.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.82. 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 firm had revenue of $295.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th were given 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 was Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,345,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $490,794,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107,536 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,812,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $341,806,000 after acquiring an additional 58,639 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $337,219,000 after acquiring an additional 618,916 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Bio-Techne by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,075,194 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $239,663,000 after purchasing an additional 725,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 164.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,012,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495,328 shares during the last quarter. 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.