Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 539,258 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 4,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.34% of Bio-Techne worth $31,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, May 30th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH traded down $1.39 on Friday, reaching $51.90. 820,165 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,476,453. The stock has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a PE ratio of 63.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.39. Bio-Techne Corp has a twelve month low of $46.01 and a twelve month high of $83.62. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $50.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.46. 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 (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is 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.