Walleye Capital LLC Invests $3.36 Million in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Corp valued at approximately $3.36 million, purchasing 57,315 shares during the first quarter.
• Bio-Techne announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.6%, and a stock repurchase plan authorizing up to $500 million in buybacks.
• The company beat earnings estimates with $0.53 EPS and reported a revenue increase of 3.6% year-over-year, with analysts predicting an average target price of $69.42 for its stock.

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 57,315 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,360,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 953,786 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $68,705,000 after acquiring an additional 53,217 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 43,245 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,331 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $636,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,954 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $119,711,000 after acquiring an additional 293,193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TECH. Stephens upgraded shares of Bio-Techne to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Friday, May 30th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.42.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $54.63. 1,720,779 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,222,321. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.05. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The company had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $315.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is 69.57%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication 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.