Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Price

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) had its target price increased by Scotiabank from $88.00 to $90.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.57.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $75.01 on Thursday. Bio-Techne has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $74.61 and its 200-day moving average is $74.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.80, a PEG ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 5,125 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,479,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 46,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,316,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.