KBC Group NV Has $788,000 Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

KBC Group NV lowered its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 29.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,442 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 5,601 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 worth $767,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,954 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,479,000. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 495,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,047,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.14. The stock had a trading volume of 843,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,453,244. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 2.58. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $83.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.39.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Company 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.