Benchmark Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH)

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Benchmark’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.91% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on TECH. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,509,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,225,112. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.08 and a quick ratio of 3.03. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $89.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.34, a P/E/G ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.6% during the third quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 27,698 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,137,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 57.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 13,220 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.