Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,027,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 24,946 shares during the period. Bio-Techne comprises 1.7% of Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $57,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 349.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,115,133 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $284,555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978,026 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,946,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $219,518,000 after purchasing an additional 283,303 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 32.3% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,307,116 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $183,975,000 after purchasing an additional 807,147 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.1% in the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,780,961 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $154,705,000 after buying an additional 56,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.9% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,665,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $137,149,000 after buying an additional 217,362 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TECH. Evercore lifted their price target on Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Argus raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 target price on Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $50.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.48. 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 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $72.16. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $295.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.20 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.