Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 25.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 556,833 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 186,173 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.36% of Bio-Techne worth $28,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 129.8% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $314,609,000 after buying an additional 3,030,644 shares in the last quarter. RGM Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $59,267,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $666,933,000 after acquiring an additional 721,012 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,658,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,657,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $64.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.83. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $79.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The business had revenue of $286.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.02 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Zacks Research raised Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.92.

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.