Commerce Bank Purchases New Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Commerce Bank purchased a new position in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,609 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,374,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,379,000 after purchasing an additional 113,634 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 506.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,085.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 105,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,424,000 after buying an additional 96,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 24,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 11,306 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $72.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 62.95, a P/E/G ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.55, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12-month low of $43.19 and a 12-month high of $72.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.61 and a 200 day moving average of $59.55.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. The business had revenue of $321.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.63 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, June 26th. William Blair lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Profile

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.