Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Sells 666,838 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 98.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 666,838 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 150,891 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,763,000 after acquiring an additional 4,334 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1,211.4% during the second quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 18,976 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 17,529 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.8% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 362.3% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 83,457 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,294,000 after purchasing an additional 65,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 38,448 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $61.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.51. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $46.01 and a 12 month high of $79.28. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.84 and its 200 day moving average is $54.40.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The business had revenue of $286.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.02 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Argus boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.92.

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.