Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 33,605 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 737,082 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,605 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Bio-Techne worth $38,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TECH. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,379,000 after buying an additional 113,634 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 40.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 506.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,085.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 105,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,424,000 after acquiring an additional 96,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 82.6% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 24,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 11,306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $49.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stephens set a $73.00 price target on Bio-Techne and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $76.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.08.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.5%

Bio-Techne stock opened at $72.12 on Friday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.29 billion, a PE ratio of 104.52, a PEG ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.11 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.