First City Capital Management Inc. Sells 235 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

First City Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 7.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,950 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the 2nd 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. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $78.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.99. The company has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.14, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $51.79 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The business 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.60.

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.