Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Decreases Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. has reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Corp by 54.3%, now owning 11,712 shares valued at approximately $687,000.
• Recent analyst upgrades include Citigroup increasing Bio-Techne's rating from "neutral" to "buy" and setting a price target of $70.00.
• Bio-Techne reported earnings of $0.53 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate and showing a 3.6% year-over-year revenue increase.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. reduced its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 54.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,712 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 13,888 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.'s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CX Institutional purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 1,239.1% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 924 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH traded down $2.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.06. 733,616 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,047,046. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.05, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 3.46. Bio-Techne Corp has a twelve month low of $46.01 and a twelve month high of $80.95.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.42.

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.