Greenleaf Trust Makes New Investment in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Greenleaf Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,907 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $68.68 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $51.79 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.51, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $73.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.87, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share 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 given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 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.