Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on TECH. Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market cap of $9.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.51, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.06. Bio-Techne has a one year low of $56.60 and a one year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade 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 large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after buying an additional 16,038 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth about $1,188,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,298,000 after purchasing an additional 25,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% 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.