New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 73,624 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 465,634 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $4,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TECH. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.5% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 565,601 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,100,000 after purchasing an additional 48,838 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 474,320 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,386,000 after buying an additional 35,165 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,552,440 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $79,873,000 after buying an additional 41,180 shares in the last quarter. 4D Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth $2,058,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 224,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,529,000 after acquiring an additional 47,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $66.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 4.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.37. The stock has a market cap of $10.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.48. Bio-Techne Corp has a twelve month low of $46.01 and a twelve month high of $75.69.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $290.20 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 16th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 target price on Bio-Techne and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.77.

About Bio-Techne

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.