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

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

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price target on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $51.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 4.54 and a quick ratio of 3.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.75. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $72.16. The stock has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.48.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $295.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 62.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $223,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $1,300,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,734,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $337,219,000 after buying an additional 618,916 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Peaks Capital LP boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 43.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 118,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,987,000 after buying an additional 20,423 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.