Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Bought by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 57.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,860 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,376 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.07% of Bio-Techne worth $7,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,038 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $18,298,000 after purchasing an additional 25,650 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $3,940,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 736,340 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $52,641,000 after purchasing an additional 79,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given 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 Trading Down 4.9%

NASDAQ TECH traded down $2.45 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.09. The stock had a trading volume of 787,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,865,294. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $83.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.15.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne 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.