Madison Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 58.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,181,308 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 436,657 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $69,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 worth $284,555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978,026 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 164.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,946,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $219,518,000 after purchasing an additional 283,303 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,307,116 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,975,000 after purchasing an additional 807,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mairs & Power Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 2,807,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $156,176,000 after purchasing an additional 91,031 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TECH. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock opened at $47.42 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 4.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.21. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $45.12 and a 52 week high of $72.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 68.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.41.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 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.