Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the November 15th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 927,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Techne

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,188,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 17.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after acquiring an additional 4,356 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 55.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 4,651 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.8% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,957 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $76.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $73.39 and its 200 day moving average is $74.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.04%.

About Bio-Techne

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.