Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Jackson Square Partners LLC

Key Points

• Jackson Square Partners LLC reduced its position in Bio-Techne Corp by 16.8%, selling 69,297 shares and now holding approximately 343,887 shares, which accounts for about 2.7% of its portfolio.
• Bio-Techne's stock has experienced a decline of 8.7% and recently opened at $49.87, with a market capitalization of $7.82 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share and has authorized a stock buyback plan to repurchase up to $500 million of its outstanding shares.

Jackson Square Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 343,887 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 69,297 shares during the period. Bio-Techne makes up about 2.7% of Jackson Square Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Jackson Square Partners LLC owned about 0.22% of Bio-Techne worth $20,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CX Institutional acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.42.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of TECH traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,898,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,430,930. The stock has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.23. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The firm had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. Bio-Techne's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often 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.