Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 57.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,149 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 6,946 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $18,298,000 after buying an additional 25,650 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,940,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 736,340 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $52,641,000 after buying an additional 79,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.1%

Bio-Techne stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $47.15. 366,231 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,286,362. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $52.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.03. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.44 and a fifty-two week high of $83.96. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.54, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne Profile

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.