New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 465,634 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 86.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,624 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 465,634 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $4,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,665,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,149,000 after purchasing an additional 217,362 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.9% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,619,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $134,753,000 after buying an additional 72,822 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Bio-Techne by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,355,618 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $131,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,906 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,930,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $107,368,000 after acquiring an additional 6,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $98,238,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TECH shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $66.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.45 billion, a PE ratio of 130.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 4.54. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $75.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.37.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $295.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.20 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.