KBC Group NV Acquires 5,601 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 41.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,043 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,601 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Bio-Techne by 92.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $404,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755,065 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 216,044 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 88,257 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 20.4% in 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 buying an additional 290,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $88,267,000 after buying an additional 17,114 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on TECH shares. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $66.86 on Tuesday. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.11 and a one year high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.13, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.49.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 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.