Willis Investment Counsel Invests $615,000 in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Willis Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 11,053 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth approximately $98,238,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,421,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 548.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 653,411 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,618,000 after purchasing an additional 552,673 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,659,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 5,114.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 492,892 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,359,000 after acquiring an additional 483,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $66.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.48. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $75.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 4.54 and a quick ratio of 2.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.25.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $295.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 16th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 target price on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.31.

Bio-Techne Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.