Bailard Inc. Takes $924,000 Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 12,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $924,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TECH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Citigroup cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.95 on Monday, reaching $71.34. The stock had a trading volume of 538,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,062,978. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.87, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.96 and a 200 day moving average of $73.69.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

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.