Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $8.01 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 12.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,541 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,506 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Bio-Techne worth $8,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $767,428,000 after buying an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $338,756,000 after acquiring an additional 317,349 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $287,488,000 after acquiring an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $275,188,000 after acquiring an additional 358,756 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $51.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 2.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.50. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $83.62. The company has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of 63.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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