Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 96,595 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Mackenzie Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,758,070 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 96,595 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 1.74% of Bio-Techne worth $198,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth $3,940,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $52,641,000 after purchasing an additional 79,629 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,001 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 336 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on TECH. Wall Street Zen raised Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on 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. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH traded up $1.91 on Tuesday, hitting $48.69. 1,854,369 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,303,577. The business's fifty day moving average is $51.59 and its 200 day moving average is $64.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week 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.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is currently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board 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.