Royal Bank of Canada Sells 93,248 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• The Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 23.9%, selling 93,248 shares and leaving it with 296,574 shares valued at approximately $17.39 million.
• Analysts have set various price targets for Bio-Techne, with Citigroup upgrading their target from $55.00 to $70.00 and rating it as a buy, while the current average rating is "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target of $70.42.
• Bio-Techne is scheduled to post an estimated EPS of 1.67 for the current year, following a reported $0.53 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 23.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 296,574 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 93,248 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $17,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $666,933,000 after acquiring an additional 721,012 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,190,115 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $245,666,000 after purchasing an additional 369,651 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 18.5% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,025,409 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $177,380,000 after purchasing an additional 472,847 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.2% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,448,322 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $143,545,000 after purchasing an additional 28,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,335,359 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $168,216,000 after purchasing an additional 495,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Stephens upgraded Bio-Techne to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.42.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded up $0.28 on Monday, reaching $51.54. 84,292 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,043,106. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $53.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.23. The firm has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.47. Bio-Techne Corp has a 1-year low of $46.01 and a 1-year high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The business had revenue of $316.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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.