Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Downgraded to “Neutral” at Citigroup

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was downgraded by Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $85.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 2.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on TECH. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Stephens lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH opened at $82.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.08 and a quick ratio of 2.88. The company has a market capitalization of $13.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.62, a P/E/G ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.38. Bio-Techne has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.6% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,197 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 0.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 267,617 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.2% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 288,636 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,647,000 after acquiring an additional 11,647 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,676 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $1,041,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

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.