Geode Capital Management LLC Has $310.93 Million Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,902,636 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,742 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.46% of Bio-Techne worth $310,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird lifted 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 research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of TECH stock opened at $75.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.52, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 4.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.64. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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.