Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $72.51 and last traded at $72.2390, with a volume of 7782 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price target on Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.26. The company has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a PE ratio of 62.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.55, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. The company had revenue of $321.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $314.63 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 14.97%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth $990,924,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,345,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $490,794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,536 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,812,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $341,806,000 after purchasing an additional 58,639 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,734,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $337,219,000 after purchasing an additional 618,916 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 23.1% during the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 4,739,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $247,698,000 after buying an additional 888,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.