Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 8.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 305,483 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 26,429 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Bio-Techne worth $16,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth about $98,238,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth about $31,421,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 548.6% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 653,411 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,618,000 after purchasing an additional 552,673 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at about $26,659,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 5,114.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,892 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,359,000 after purchasing an additional 483,440 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI set a $62.00 price target on Bio-Techne and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.57.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $65.70 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.36. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $79.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.08, a PEG ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 1.47. 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 (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The company had revenue of $286.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.02 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 6.41%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.