Evercore Downgrades Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) to Hold

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was downgraded by Evercore from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on TECH. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Stephens set a $73.00 price target on Bio-Techne and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.79.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $70.86. The stock had a trading volume of 544,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,406,683. The company has a current ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.72, a P/E/G ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.56. Bio-Techne has a 52 week low of $43.19 and a 52 week high of $72.16.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $311.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.11 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 9.05%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Impax Asset Management Group plc bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth $11,468,000. Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 69.7% in the third quarter. Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC now owns 174,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,717,000 after purchasing an additional 71,739 shares during the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,023,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $2,428,000. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 390,794 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $22,983,000 after purchasing an additional 23,785 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.