Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Has $628,000 Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 529.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,708 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,008 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth $3,940,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 736,340 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $52,641,000 after acquiring an additional 79,629 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 34,402 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 734,675 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $52,919,000 after acquiring an additional 60,109 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Friday, May 30th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 31st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of TECH traded down $1.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $48.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,602,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,371,413. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $46.01 and a 1-year high of $83.62. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $50.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 48.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are 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.