Legal & General Group Plc Sells 59,274 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 263,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 59,274 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.17% of Bio-Techne worth $15,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 349.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,115,133 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $284,555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978,026 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 164.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,012,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495,328 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,946,028 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $219,518,000 after purchasing an additional 283,303 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 32.3% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,307,116 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,975,000 after purchasing an additional 807,147 shares during the period. Finally, Mairs & Power Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.4% during the third quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 2,807,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $156,176,000 after purchasing an additional 91,031 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $50.79 on Tuesday. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $43.19 and a fifty-two week high of $72.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 4.49 and a quick ratio of 3.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 73.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.82.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The business had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on TECH shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $49.00 price objective on Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.92.

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.