Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 25,264 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 8.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 291,806 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 25,264 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $20,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 734,105 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $56,646,000 after buying an additional 118,534 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Bio-Techne by 126.5% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 4,465 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 2,494 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in Bio-Techne by 405.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 142,949 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $11,030,000 after purchasing an additional 114,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,424 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH traded down $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $78.30. 1,558,282 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,044,820. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a PE ratio of 62.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50-day moving average is $75.25 and its 200 day moving average is $73.99. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $306.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.60.

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.