Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Plans $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 7th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the biotechnology company on Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th.

Bio-Techne has a dividend payout ratio of 14.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bio-Techne to earn $1.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $49.98. The stock had a trading volume of 3,168,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,252,429. Bio-Techne has a 1-year low of $46.01 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The business's fifty day moving average is $54.68 and its 200-day moving average is $66.22. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap 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 (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.44.

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.