Jane Street Group LLC Sells 17,520 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Jane Street Group LLC reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 57.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 17,520 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $767,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,479,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,047,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $47.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $83.96. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 47.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Finally, Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.44.

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.