William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Corp by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, following the sale of 18,014 shares, bringing its total holdings to 972,085 shares worth approximately $50 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Select Equity Group and Price T Rowe Associates, significantly increased their positions in Bio-Techne during the same period, reflecting a larger trend of institutional ownership which now stands at nearly 99% of the company's shares.
• Bio-Techne reported earnings of $0.53 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, indicating a sustainable financial performance.

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 972,085 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 18,014 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.62% of Bio-Techne worth $50,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 129.8% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 5,366,003 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $314,609,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030,644 shares during the last quarter. RGM Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $59,267,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,375,279 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $666,933,000 after buying an additional 721,012 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the first quarter valued at about $39,658,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 45.7% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,912,377 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $112,123,000 after buying an additional 599,982 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $61.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.48, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12-month low of $46.01 and a 12-month high of $80.80. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $55.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS 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 $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Citigroup raised shares of Bio-Techne from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Stephens upgraded Bio-Techne to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.58.

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.

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