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

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.91% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.2 %

Bio-Techne stock traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $77.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,509,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,225,112. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.55. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $51.79 and a 12 month high of $89.91. The company has a market capitalization of $12.15 billion, a PE ratio of 61.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $396,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 6,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $429,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,672,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,559 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.