Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Reduces Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lessened its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 516,763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 8,246 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $30,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 30,250.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, May 30th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $51.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.64. The company has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Bio-Techne Corp has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $83.62.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 39.02%.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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.