Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Lowers Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. has cut its stock holdings in Bio-Techne Corp by 41%, reducing its ownership to 294,300 shares worth $17.25 million.
• The company's stock is currently valued at $54.41, with a market cap of $8.53 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.29.
• Bio-Techne recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.6%.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 41.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 294,300 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 204,200 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $17,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of TECH. RGM Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter valued at about $59,267,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $666,933,000 after purchasing an additional 721,012 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,658,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 45.7% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,912,377 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $112,123,000 after purchasing an additional 599,982 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth approximately $30,657,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on TECH. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Stephens upgraded shares of Bio-Techne to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised Bio-Techne from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.42.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $54.20. The stock had a trading volume of 2,229,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,726. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a PE ratio of 117.83, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $53.96 and its 200 day moving average is $53.55. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm's revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.57%.

About Bio-Techne

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.