Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $70.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Bio-Techne traded as low as $58.98 and last traded at $60.12, with a volume of 1958641 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $61.19.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 1.9 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.81. The company has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of 64.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

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.