Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,725 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted 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 buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TECH. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.61 and a 200-day moving average of $74.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

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.