Royal Bank of Canada Grows Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 389,822 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,626 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.25% of Bio-Techne worth $28,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. 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 stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the last quarter. 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 period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on 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 decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Benchmark decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six investment 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock traded up $1.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,854,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,303,577. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $83.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company's fifty day moving average is $51.82 and its 200-day moving average is $64.25.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Bio-Techne's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

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