Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

TECH has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $51.40 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.61 and its 200 day moving average is $62.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.92, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.38. Bio-Techne has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $83.62.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 39.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $666,933,000 after purchasing an additional 721,012 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 129.8% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $314,609,000 after buying an additional 3,030,644 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,756,000 after acquiring an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,190,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $245,666,000 after purchasing an additional 369,651 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.