Jane Street Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Jane Street Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 57.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,190 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 17,520 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1,355.6% during the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,687,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,311,146. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $83.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $51.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.03. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 48.41, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. Bio-Techne's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Bio-Techne

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.