Eagle Asset Management Inc. Sells 9,130 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 299,707 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 9,130 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $22,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Bio-Techne by 6.2% in the first quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,185 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,333 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,917 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 51.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on TECH. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.28. The stock had a trading volume of 620,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,229,735. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The stock has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.83, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The business's 50 day moving average is $73.77 and its 200 day moving average is $75.25.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. Bio-Techne's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.04%.

Bio-Techne 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.