Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Price

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank Of Canada from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Friday, May 30th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong 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 target price of $69.42.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of TECH opened at $50.42 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 3.46. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $316.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.57%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 6.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $666,933,000 after buying an additional 721,012 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 129.8% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $314,609,000 after buying an additional 3,030,644 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 9.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,190,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $245,666,000 after buying an additional 369,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,581,778 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $257,995,000 after buying an additional 65,686 shares during the last quarter. 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.