Bio-Techne Corp $TECH Shares Acquired by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 432.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 753,280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 611,892 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $44,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 349.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,115,133 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $284,555,000 after acquiring an additional 3,978,026 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 164.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,012,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,994,000 after buying an additional 2,495,328 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $99,494,000. Durable Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $77,658,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 78.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,037,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $113,363,000 after buying an additional 894,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $49.00 price objective on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $76.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.92.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $50.85 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $43.19 and a 12 month high of $72.16. The company has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 4.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.67.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The company had revenue of $311.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 46.38%.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and sells high-quality reagents, instruments and services for the research, diagnostic and bioprocessing markets. Its core product offerings include recombinant proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, nucleic acid probes and kits, single-cell analysis solutions and automated protein analysis systems. Flagship brands such as R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, ProteinSimple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics provide researchers and clinicians with reliable tools for cell biology, immunology, proteomics and genomics applications.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne serves customers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region through a combination of direct sales, distributors and strategic partnerships.