Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 16.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,894 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 1.3 %

TECH stock opened at $72.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.60. The stock has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a PE ratio of 57.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 1.29. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The company had revenue of $306.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 14.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.40%.

Bio-Techne Company 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.