Citigroup Cuts Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Price Target to $70.00

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on TECH. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock opened at $63.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $58.98 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.81.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s dividend 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth $312,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth about $4,082,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 284.6% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,244 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,763,000 after purchasing an additional 38,661 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 85,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,123,000 after purchasing an additional 32,173 shares during 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.