Marshall Wace LLP Decreases Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Marshall Wace LLP lowered its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,983,737 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 108,334 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 1.26% of Bio-Techne worth $142,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 92.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $404,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755,065 shares during the last quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 3,550,990 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $273,994,000 after purchasing an additional 392,986 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,862,526 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $201,493,000 after purchasing an additional 351,645 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $122,879,000 after purchasing an additional 290,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $22,067,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ TECH traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $77.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 846,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,042,285. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $75.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.71, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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

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.