Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Baird R W

Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on TECH. Robert W. Baird cut 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 research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $65.80 on Wednesday. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $61.16 and a 52 week high of $85.57. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $73.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.46, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in 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 worth $767,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $89,724,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,479,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $168,216,000 after buying an additional 495,404 shares during the period. 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.