Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 3,600 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on TECH. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Four investment 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 company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a PE ratio of 56.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $51.79 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 3.87. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.50.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued 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. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Bio-Techne’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

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.