New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 22.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 521,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 147,371 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.33% of Bio-Techne worth $41,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 92.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $404,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755,065 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 8.2% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,081,000 after acquiring an additional 216,044 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Bio-Techne by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $185,559,000 after purchasing an additional 88,257 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 20.4% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $122,879,000 after purchasing an additional 290,510 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 995,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $70,095,000 after buying an additional 12,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $75.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a PE ratio of 80.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $52.99 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The business had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

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.