Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Price

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Citigroup from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Citigroup's price target points to a potential upside of 12.54% from the stock's current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 3.5 %

NASDAQ TECH traded up $2.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.20. 2,143,320 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,033,252. The firm has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $71.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne has a fifty-two week low of $58.62 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57.

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

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents 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 insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $89,724,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $44,479,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.9% in the fourth 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. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.