Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Downgraded to ‘Neutral’ at Citigroup

Citigroup lowered the company’s shares Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Free Report) from a buy rating to neutral in a research report published Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has a $85.00 price target on shares of this biotechnology company.

A number of other research analysts also commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Bio-Techne shares from buy to hold and set a price target for the stock at $65.00. in a report dated Friday, February 2. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a sector rating for the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8. They issued an Outperform rating for the sector and a $80.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overperform” rating for the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts rated the company’s shares with a hold rating, and eight of them issued a buy rating. Bio-Techne currently has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a consensus price target of $81.00, based on data from MarketBeat.com.

Check out our latest stock analysis on Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne stock results

On Wednesday, TECH’s price rose to $82.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.86, a PEG ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $89.91. The company has a debt to equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.88 and a current ratio of 4.08. The company has a fifty-day moving average of $71.55 and a 200-day moving average of $70.47.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, which topped the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The company’s revenue for the quarter was $303.43 million, compared to analyst expectations of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne achieved a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company’s revenues increased by 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company reported earnings per share of $0.47. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast Bio-Techne to report earnings per share of 1.56 for the current financial year.

Bio-Techne announces dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24. Shareholders who hit record highs on Monday, May 13 will receive a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10. This translates into an annual dividend of $0.32 and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.40%.

Confidential activity

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98 for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s shares.

Institutional investors are betting on biotechnology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have been buying and selling shares of the company recently. First City Capital Management Inc. in the first quarter increased its stake in Bio-Techne shares by 6.2%. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,185 shares of the biotech company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.4% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. In the first quarter, Comerica Bank increased its exposure to Bio-Techne by 14.8%. Comerica Bank now owns 53,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,748,000 after acquiring an additional 6,845 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 135.5% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 31,990 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,404 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 995,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,095,000 after purchasing an additional 12,991 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the shares are in the hands of institutional investors.

About Bio-Techne

(Get the free report)

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and sells life science reagents, instruments and services to the clinical research and diagnostics markets in the United States, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Greater China, Rest Asia-Pacific and internationally.

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