Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.78.

TECH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH stock opened at $75.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $73.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.76. The company has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.75, a PEG ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne has a 1-year low of $55.63 and a 1-year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

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.