Royce & Associates LP Has $67.57 Million Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 845,398 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,296 shares during the period. Bio-Techne accounts for about 0.6% of Royce & Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $67,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on TECH. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $72.54 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $60.04 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.17, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.37.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.04%.

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.