Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Conestoga Capital boosted its stake in Bio‑Techne by 16.1% in Q4 to 354,561 shares (~$20.85M), representing about 0.23% ownership while institutional investors hold 98.95% of the stock.
• Bio‑Techne slightly beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $0.46 versus $0.43 and revenue of $295.9M versus $290.2M, though revenue was down 0.4% year‑over‑year.
• Analysts are broadly positive — the stock has a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $72.77, compared with a recent share price near $55.32, suggesting upside potential.

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 354,561 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,078 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Bio-Techne worth $20,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 109.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 453 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TECH. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $79.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock opened at $55.32 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $54.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.73. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $46.05 and a 52 week high of $72.16. The company has a current ratio of 4.54, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 108.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.49.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $295.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 62.75%.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation NASDAQ: TECH is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.

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