VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes $656,000 Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 11,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.5% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 565,601 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,100,000 after buying an additional 48,838 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,552,440 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,873,000 after acquiring an additional 41,180 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $270,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 474,320 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,386,000 after acquiring an additional 35,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 27.0% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 224,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,529,000 after purchasing an additional 47,555 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI set a $68.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $72.00 price target on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $59.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.85. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $79.28.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 6.41%.The company had revenue of $286.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.