S Bank Fund Management Ltd Takes Position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 166,886 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,786,000 after acquiring an additional 20,169 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 52,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,078,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 21,691 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,272,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter valued at $7,396,000. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 123.1% during the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 46,314 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,715,000 after buying an additional 25,554 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $54.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 118.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.40. Bio-Techne Corp has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $80.95.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $316.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.14 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 69.57%.

Bio-Techne announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Bio-Techne to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.42.

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.