Atom Investors LP Buys Shares of 351,673 Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Atom Investors LP bought 351,673 shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter, a stake valued at about $20.7 million. The position now makes Bio-Techne the fund’s 2nd-largest holding.
• Bio-Techne reported mixed quarterly results, with earnings of $0.53 per share versus estimates of $0.55 and revenue of $311.4 million versus expectations of $316.1 million. Revenue also declined 1.5% from a year earlier.
• Despite the earnings miss, Wall Street remains generally positive on the stock: analysts currently rate it a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $65.15. The company also recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, yielding about 0.6% annually.

Atom Investors LP acquired a new position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 351,673 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $20,682,000. Bio-Techne comprises 1.6% of Atom Investors LP's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Atom Investors LP owned 0.22% of Bio-Techne at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $62,379,000 after acquiring an additional 113,634 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 506.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,085.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 105,418 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $5,424,000 after acquiring an additional 96,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 24,991 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 11,306 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $56.03 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 4.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm's fifty day moving average is $52.25 and its 200 day moving average is $57.22. The company has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.20, a PEG ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.37. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $43.19 and a 52 week high of $72.16.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $316.11 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is presently 46.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TECH. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.15.

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.

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