Raymond James & Associates Grows Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 356,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,457 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $28,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased 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 buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $69.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.95 and its 200-day moving average is $74.47. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 14.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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 research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.60.

About Bio-Techne

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.