Amalgamated Bank Purchases 222 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,646 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 30,250.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock opened at $53.14 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $49.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.53. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $83.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.80, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on TECH. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Friday, May 30th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

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.