Tema Etfs LLC Takes Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Tema Etfs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,924 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after purchasing an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 13.1% in the fourth 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. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 7.2% in the fourth 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 lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth 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 position in Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.44.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $46.78. 1,471,196 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,301,365. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $83.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 47.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. Bio-Techne's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is 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.