Focus Financial Network Inc. Acquires New Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Focus Financial Network Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,092 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,185 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 13,220 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,957 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.60.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.24. 302,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,069,198. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $75.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.58.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Bio-Techne’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 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, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Bio-Techne 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.