Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Sells 291,040 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Conestoga Capital Advisors cut its Bio-Techne stake by 97.7% in the third quarter, selling 291,040 shares and retaining 6,790 shares valued at about $492,000.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $68.92. Bio-Techne’s latest quarterly revenue rose 1.3% year over year to $321.19 million, while earnings per share matched estimates at $0.52.
• Bio-Techne declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, down from $0.65 previously, for an annualized yield of about 0.4%.

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 97.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,790 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 291,040 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. S&CO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,412,000. HBK Investments L P bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at $482,186,000. American Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.5% during the first quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,021,128 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $53,364,000 after buying an additional 79,979 shares during the period. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth $3,865,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2,094.5% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 91,268 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,448,000 after buying an additional 87,109 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on TECH shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Argus lowered Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $72.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.24, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.29. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $43.19 and a 52-week high of $72.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a current ratio of 4.55. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $72.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.35.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The company had revenue of $321.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Bio-Techne's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This is a negative change from Bio-Techne's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is 27.83%.

Bio-Techne Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation is a life sciences company that develops and supplies research and diagnostic products for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, clinical and other laboratory customers. The company supports biological research, drug discovery and development, and diagnostic testing through a portfolio of reagents, instruments and analytical technologies.

Its products include proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, flow cytometry reagents, molecular biology tools and cell culture materials.

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