Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Announces Share Repurchase Plan

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $49.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.48, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. Bio-Techne has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $85.57. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.44.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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.