California State Teachers Retirement System Has $17.96 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 249,350 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,625 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.16% of Bio-Techne worth $17,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $275,188,000 after buying an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:TECH traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $49.29. The stock had a trading volume of 433,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,357,726. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $83.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The company has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The business's 50 day moving average is $50.63 and its 200-day moving average is $63.39.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is currently 39.02%.

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

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.