First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stake in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2,874.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,281,792 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,238,705 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.82% of Bio-Techne worth $66,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 506.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 0.2%

TECH stock opened at $71.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 4.49 and a quick ratio of 3.18. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.82. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $43.19 and a 12 month high of $72.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 103.77, a P/E/G ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.29.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 9.05%.The company had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research cut Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Leerink Partners set a $73.00 target price on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $76.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.08.

Bio-Techne Profile

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.