Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $70.74, but opened at $74.00. Bio-Techne shares last traded at $78.07, with a volume of 455,683 shares traded.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TECH. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.60.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 3.0 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 3.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a PE ratio of 59.03, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 92.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $404,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755,065 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $122,879,000 after purchasing an additional 290,510 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $205,081,000 after purchasing an additional 216,044 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $185,559,000 after buying an additional 88,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 894,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $64,082,000 after buying an additional 76,641 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.