Toronto Dominion Bank Raises Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 60.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,010 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,173 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of Bio-Techne worth $6,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $18,298,000 after acquiring an additional 25,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded up $1.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.23. 334,467 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,297,954. 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 firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $51.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.25. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year 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 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is currently 39.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TECH. Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.44.

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.