Brown Advisory Inc. Purchases 599,982 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 45.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,912,377 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 599,982 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 1.21% of Bio-Techne worth $112,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $767,428,000 after buying an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,479,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $168,216,000 after buying an additional 495,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,047,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ TECH traded up $1.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,664,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,460,209. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Bio-Techne Corp has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $83.62. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.39. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.96 and its 200-day moving average is $59.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Bio-Techne's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 0.61%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on TECH. Evercore ISI began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 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 target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Company 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.