2,600 Shares in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Bought by Sawgrass Asset Management LLC

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth about $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $67.57 on Monday. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $60.53 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.88, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.49.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

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.