Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. They set a buy rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Bio-Techne from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Techne to $105.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bio-Techne from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $81.25 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $104.36.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $72.31 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.91, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $77.53 and its 200 day moving average is $80.46. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $68.00 and a 12-month high of $113.81.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This is a boost from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 19.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 382.9% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,153,947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $592,919,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672,587 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in Bio-Techne by 286.7% in the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 5,519,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $457,420,000 after purchasing an additional 4,091,998 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,487,742 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,274,520,000 after purchasing an additional 27,397 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 0.9% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,326,270 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,228,662,000 after purchasing an additional 38,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 299.2% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 4,134,391 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $342,658,000 after purchasing an additional 3,098,731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 23.92% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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Bio-Techne Corp. engages in the development, manufacture and sale of biotechnology reagents and instruments for the research and clinical diagnostic markets. It operates through the following segments: Protein Sciences and Diagnostics and Genomics. The Protein Sciences segment develops and manufactures purified proteins and reagent solutions most notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents and T-Cell activation technologies.