UBS Group AG Decreases Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

UBS Group AG cut its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Rating) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,592 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,156 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,445,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,924,978,000 after acquiring an additional 18,627 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Bio-Techne by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 456,934 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $197,870,000 after buying an additional 101,567 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 410,216 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $116,501,000 after purchasing an additional 24,219 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 333,694 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $115,672,000 after purchasing an additional 4,248 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 318,616 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $137,974,000 after acquiring an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. 23.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TECH. SVB Leerink decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Stephens lowered their price target on Bio-Techne to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Bio-Techne from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $111.50 to $99.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.36.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $74.54 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $68.00 and a 12 month high of $113.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 4.40 and a quick ratio of 3.15. The company has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a PE ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.24.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 19.88%.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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Bio-Techne Corp. engages in the development, manufacture and sale of biotechnology reagents and instruments for the research and clinical diagnostic markets. It operates through the following segments: Protein Sciences and Diagnostics and Genomics. The Protein Sciences segment develops and manufactures purified proteins and reagent solutions most notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents and T-Cell activation technologies.