Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 88,250 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Madison Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,093,058 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 88,250 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.70% of Bio-Techne worth $57,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,345,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $490,794,000 after buying an additional 1,107,536 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,812,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $341,806,000 after buying an additional 58,639 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,734,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $337,219,000 after buying an additional 618,916 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,075,194 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $239,663,000 after acquiring an additional 725,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 164.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,012,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495,328 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $71.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 103.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 4.49. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $43.19 and a fifty-two week high of $72.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.47.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on TECH. Citigroup downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Leerink Partners set a $73.00 price target on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. William Blair lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.08.

Bio-Techne Company 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.