Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 261,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,843 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.17% of Bio-Techne worth $20,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,164 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in Bio-Techne by 2.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 32,493 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,287,000 after buying an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 29.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,523 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 8,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $75.93 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $58.99 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $74.30 and a 200 day moving average of $75.39. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.28.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business 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 payout ratio is 34.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.78.

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.