Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $75.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $60.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a PE ratio of 60.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $68.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.97. Bio-Techne has a fifty-two week low of $56.60 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued 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 0.53%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of 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 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,479,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. lifted 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.