Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)’s share price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $61.06 and last traded at $61.22, with a volume of 1708047 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $64.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on TECH shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 4.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.85, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.24.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $767,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.