Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Position Reduced by Natixis Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Corp by 26.4%, now owning about 0.08% of the company valued at $7,324,000 after selling 44,764 shares.
• Bio-Techne's stock triggered research reports with several analysts citing target price reductions, with Benchmark maintaining a "buy" rating at $75.00 and others adjusting expectations to a range of $60.00 to $70.00.
• The company announced a $500 million share repurchase plan, indicating confidence that its stock is undervalued, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 26.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,917 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 44,764 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Bio-Techne worth $7,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in Bio-Techne by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased 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 report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.58.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $54.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.93, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.40. Bio-Techne Corp has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $81.29. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $52.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.66. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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