994,330 Shares in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Bought by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 994,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,477,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 5,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 6,052 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 28.4% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 786 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.4% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,703 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.17.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.2%

Bio-Techne stock opened at $51.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.35, a P/E/G ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.37. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $43.19 and a 52 week high of $72.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 4.49.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.38%.

Bio-Techne Profile

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.