Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp by 28.7%, now owning 14,638 shares valued at approximately $858,000.
• Bio-Techne reported earnings per share of $0.53, exceeding analysts’ expectations, along with a quarterly revenue of $316.96 million, up 3.6% from the previous year.
• The company has announced a $500 million stock repurchase program, indicating that its board believes the stock is undervalued.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 28.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,638 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 5,894 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 56,964 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,103,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $338,756,000 after buying an additional 317,349 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 61.8% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 281,747 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $20,294,000 after buying an additional 107,667 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at $821,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at $3,390,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $73.00 price objective on Bio-Techne and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Stephens upgraded Bio-Techne to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bio-Techne from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.42.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.34. 2,302,423 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,129,957. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 115.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 3.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.96. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.57%.

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.