Raymond James & Associates Boosts Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 356,597 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,457 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.22% of Bio-Techne worth $28,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trust Point Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 3.9% during the third quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 8,705 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 16,347 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.0% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,773 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 674.2% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,378 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TECH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Thursday, hitting $68.37. 595,567 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,010,386. The firm's fifty day moving average is $73.82 and its 200-day moving average is $74.42. The stock has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.26, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $85.57. 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 (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $306.49 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 25.40%.

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.