P Schoenfeld Asset Management LP Makes New $4.59 Billion Investment in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

P Schoenfeld Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 65,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,592,250,000. Bio-Techne makes up about 1.9% of P Schoenfeld Asset Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth $823,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $917,000. Athos Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,065,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter valued at about $440,000. Finally, PEAK6 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,800,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Leerink Partners set a $73.00 price target on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $72.32 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a current ratio of 4.55. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52 week low of $43.19 and a 52 week high of $72.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.50.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.52. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The firm had revenue of $321.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $314.63 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is an increase from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 27.83%.

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.