Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

TECH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH traded up $1.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.31. The stock had a trading volume of 984,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 910,102. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $52.99 and a 52 week high of $85.57. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.60. The company has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.28.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. The company had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 34.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 563.1% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 13,739 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 11,667 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 20.2% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 200,662 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,125,000 after purchasing an additional 33,709 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 135.5% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 31,990 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,404 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at about $569,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 20.4% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $122,879,000 after purchasing an additional 290,510 shares in the last quarter. 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.