Atria Investments Inc Decreases Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Atria Investments Inc decreased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 13.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 903 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised 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 acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% during the 2nd 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 period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 research note on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut 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 report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $68.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a PE ratio of 73.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 4.56. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $61.16 and a 52-week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.04%.

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.