Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,932,373 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 505,949 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Bio-Techne worth $997,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Oak Thistle LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 9,314 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.6% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,883 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.6% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,134 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.5% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 46,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,579,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.3%

TECH opened at $57.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a current ratio of 4.54. Bio-Techne Corp has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $72.16. The company has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.79, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.70.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $295.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.20 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 6.67%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.75%.

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.