Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Increases Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 31.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 333,784 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,750 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.21% of Bio-Techne worth $19,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 20.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 52,339 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,069,000 after acquiring an additional 9,041 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 602.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 49,154 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 42,153 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,889,000. Finally, L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the first quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 23,108 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of TECH traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $50.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,915,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,412,418. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.13. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $83.62. The company has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.