Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. Boosts Stock Position in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 131.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,392,001 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,926,066 shares during the period. Bio-Techne comprises 2.9% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $177,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,379,000 after purchasing an additional 113,634 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 40.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,356 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 506.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,085.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 105,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 96,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 82.6% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 24,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 11,306 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on TECH. Zacks Research lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Stephens set a $73.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Benchmark lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.08.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $71.62 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 4.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $43.19 and a 52-week high of $72.16. The company has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.03 and a 200 day moving average of $58.84.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The firm had revenue of $311.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 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.