Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $2.43 Million Investment in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 43,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,428,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 32.3% in 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 during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 8.9% during 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 period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,619,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,753,000 after buying an additional 72,822 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,355,618 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $131,043,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,037,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,363,000 after buying an additional 894,987 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TECH. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $52.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 4.54 and a quick ratio of 3.08. Bio-Techne Corp has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $72.16. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.57, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.04.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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