Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Sold by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Corp by 23.7%, selling over 1.1 million shares, resulting in ownership of 3.6 million shares valued at approximately $210 million.
• Bio-Techne reported earnings of $0.53 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and its quarterly revenue increased by 3.6% compared to the previous year, reaching $316.96 million.
• The company announced a $500 million share repurchase plan, indicating the board's belief that the shares are undervalued, and recently declared a dividend of $0.08 per share.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 23.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,587,366 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 1,115,576 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 2.27% of Bio-Techne worth $210,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 17.9% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 19,630 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 2,980 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth $1,362,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3,534.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 105,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,170,000 after buying an additional 102,345 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.2% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,524 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,086,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 5.7%

TECH opened at $57.09 on Friday. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $80.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 3.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.11, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.40.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The company had revenue of $316.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $315.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is presently 69.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.42.

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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