Caprock Group LLC Makes New $1.71 Million Investment in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 31,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,710,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,665,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,149,000 after acquiring an additional 217,362 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,619,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $134,753,000 after purchasing an additional 72,822 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,355,618 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $131,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,906 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.4% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,930,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $107,368,000 after buying an additional 6,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $98,238,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on TECH. Zacks Research upgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $59.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.48. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $72.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 4.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $295.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.20 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 6.67%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

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.