Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Robert W. Baird currently has $68.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $88.00.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $65.80 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.14 and a 200 day moving average of $73.57. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $61.16 and a 12 month high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.