Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Baird R W

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was downgraded by investment analysts at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $65.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.57. Bio-Techne has a 12 month low of $61.16 and a 12 month high of $85.57. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a PE ratio of 66.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS 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%. Equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 60.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 85,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,123,000 after purchasing an additional 32,173 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at $283,000. GTS Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 4,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 859 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 924,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,608,000 after buying an additional 170,377 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth $687,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.