Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Bought by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 31.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 333,784 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 79,750 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned about 0.21% of Bio-Techne worth $19,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings 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 worth $767,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,479,000. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $168,216,000 after purchasing an additional 495,404 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at $30,047,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, May 30th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of TECH traded up $1.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $51.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,635,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,413,310. The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 52.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $83.62. The company's fifty day moving average price is $49.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.87.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 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 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 39.02%.

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

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.