Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on TECH. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of TECH opened at $49.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $84.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.45.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $666,933,000 after purchasing an additional 721,012 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 129.8% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $314,609,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030,644 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,190,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $245,666,000 after purchasing an additional 369,651 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.