Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 39,345 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 300,474 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 39,345 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $17,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,355.6% in the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on 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. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded up $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $51.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,732,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,400,258. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of 52.06, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.38. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $83.62.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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