Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Riverbridge Partners LLC

Riverbridge Partners LLC lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 620,453 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 66,269 shares during the quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC owned 0.39% of Bio-Techne worth $36,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $767,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Friday, May 30th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ TECH opened at $50.13 on Friday. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $83.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.52. The firm has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of 61.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Bio-Techne’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to purchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally.