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

Mackenzie Financial Corp reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,758,070 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 96,595 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 1.74% of Bio-Techne worth $198,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth 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 period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the 4th 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 period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,001 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,687,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,309,091. The business's 50 day moving average price is $51.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $83.62. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The business had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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