Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $75.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on TECH. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank boosted 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. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Four equities 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.25.

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Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.4 %

TECH traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.61. 2,581,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,077,368. 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 capitalization of $9.58 billion, a PE ratio of 61.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.88. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $56.60 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.