Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Down 6.9% - What's Next?

Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) dropped 6.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $58.92 and last traded at $58.55. Approximately 819,209 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 1,043,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.14.

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Bio-Techne Price Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 62.79, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's 50-day moving average is $69.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.35.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 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, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction 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 $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.