Clearbridge Investments LLC Reduces Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 993,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 63,686 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $71,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 92.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $404,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755,065 shares in the last quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 3,550,990 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,994,000 after purchasing an additional 392,986 shares during the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 3,079,483 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $237,613,000 after purchasing an additional 25,903 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,081,000 after buying an additional 216,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $185,559,000 after buying an additional 88,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TECH. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $77.43 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $51.79 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.87, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.16. The company has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.45, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.