Farther Finance Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 75.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,624 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 5,035 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $93,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at $3,940,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3,534.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 105,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $6,170,000 after buying an additional 102,345 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 81,801 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,037,000 after purchasing an additional 7,777 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $488,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,577,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,430,207. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $83.62. The firm has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.51 and a 200-day moving average of $61.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 2.58.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. 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 of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. 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, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

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.