Stephens Inc. AR Increases Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,012 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $75.83 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.63 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 4.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.97.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The business had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.22 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

Bio-Techne Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally.