Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Invests $8.49 Million in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 120,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,488,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Bio-Techne at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at about $445,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at about $75,134,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth about $389,000. Summit Creek Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth about $9,158,000. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth about $289,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TECH. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.92.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $72.32 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $69.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.54. Bio-Techne Corp has a 1 year low of $43.19 and a 1 year high of $72.62. The company has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a PE 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 (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. The company had revenue of $321.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $314.63 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This is a positive change from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. 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.