Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Covestor Ltd

Covestor Ltd decreased its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 703 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 92.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $404,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755,065 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,081,000 after purchasing an additional 216,044 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $185,559,000 after purchasing an additional 88,257 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $122,879,000 after buying an additional 290,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 1.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 995,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $70,095,000 after buying an additional 12,991 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $72.54 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.04 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.37. The company has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TECH. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.78.

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.