Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Sold by Jackson Square Partners LLC

Jackson Square Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 57,272 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 286,615 shares during the quarter. Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 129.8% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $314,609,000 after buying an additional 3,030,644 shares during the last quarter. RGM Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $59,267,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $666,933,000 after acquiring an additional 721,012 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,658,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,657,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $57.41 on Friday. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $79.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $57.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 69.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens upgraded Bio-Techne to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.17.

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.