William Blair Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 75.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,709,662 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 737,577 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.10% of Bio-Techne worth $95,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,379,000 after purchasing an additional 113,634 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 392.5% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,822 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 52.5% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 35,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,822,000 after buying an additional 12,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.6% in the second quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 4,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $59.00 on Friday. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $72.16. The company has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 4.54, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.93.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TECH shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.77.

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.