Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) Raised to Hold at Piper Sandler

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

TECH has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore set a $50.00 price target on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $76.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.15.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $54.02 on Thursday. Bio-Techne has a 12-month low of $43.19 and a 12-month high of $72.16. The company has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.42.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The company had revenue of $311.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 349.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,115,133 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $284,555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978,026 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 164.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,012,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $235,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495,328 shares during the last quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 131.4% during the first quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 3,392,001 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $177,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926,066 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth about $99,494,000. Finally, Durable Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth about $77,658,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.