Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 737 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 8,846 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 40.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 171,557 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,357,000 after buying an additional 49,574 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,173 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,741,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 544,058 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,188,000 after acquiring an additional 22,145 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TECH shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $50.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.13. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $46.01 and a 52 week high of $83.62. The stock has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.03, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.02%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Bio-Techne

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.