Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $59.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,912,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,080,502. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 59.98, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $56.60 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 value of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 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.