BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 52,235 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 23.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 52,235 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.11% of Bio-Techne worth $13,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 19,153 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,032 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 56,609 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,525,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 52.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 157,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,607,000 after purchasing an additional 54,134 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 7.9% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,071 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $75.36 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.97. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a PE ratio of 80.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

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.