Riverbridge Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Free Report) by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 721,831 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 180,949 shares during the period. Riverbridge Partners LLC owned about 0.46% of Bio-Techne worth $49,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 382.9% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,153,947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $592,919,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672,587 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 1,300.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,982,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $247,200,000 after buying an additional 2,769,642 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $188,929,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth $136,489,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 330.8% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,767,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $146,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,899 shares in the last quarter. 94.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $104.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. William Blair started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Monday, August 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, December 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.80.
Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.3 %
Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $77.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.63, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.00. The stock has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.00, a PEG ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 1.24. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $89.91.
Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $276.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.81 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 21.57% and a return on equity of 14.89%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 24th. Investors of record on Friday, November 10th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.05%.
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.