Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $61.06 and last traded at $61.22, with a volume of 1708047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on TECH. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $72.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.24.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $767,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $89,724,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $44,479,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $168,216,000 after purchasing an additional 495,404 shares during the last quarter. 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.