Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 284.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,244 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,661 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $767,428,000 after buying an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $44,479,000. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $168,216,000 after purchasing an additional 495,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth $30,047,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.40. 11,773,067 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,356,762. The company has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.89, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. 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 quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.67.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.00.

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.