Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Sold by BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. decreased its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 59,110 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 8.9% during the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,665,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,149,000 after purchasing an additional 217,362 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.9% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,619,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,753,000 after buying an additional 72,822 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,355,618 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $131,043,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 0.4% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 6,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at about $98,238,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on TECH. Argus upped their price target 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. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.3%

TECH stock opened at $57.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 4.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.79, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.66. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $72.16.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $290.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

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.