Royal Bank of Canada Has $28.08 Million Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 389,822 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,626 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.25% of Bio-Techne worth $28,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $137,301,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $767,428,000 after buying an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,479,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,047,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $275,188,000 after buying an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird cut 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $48.01. 1,621,200 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,875,540. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $83.62. The firm has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.52, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.59 and a 200 day moving average of $64.14. 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 results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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 0.67%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Company 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.