Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Short Interest Up 15.6% in November

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the November 15th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 927,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.69. The company had a trading volume of 487,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 947,043. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.58. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $61.16 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $280.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on TECH. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.00.

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.