Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the biotechnology company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%.

Bio-Techne has a payout ratio of 14.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bio-Techne to earn $2.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.8%.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 5.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded up $4.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.81. 481,192 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,004,252. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.36. Bio-Techne has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The stock has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

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.