Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys 15,738 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 15,738 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth $990,924,000. HBK Investments L P bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at about $482,186,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 4,739,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $247,698,000 after purchasing an additional 888,798 shares during the last quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 131.4% during the first quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 3,392,001 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $177,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2,426.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,827,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,754,926 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.1%

TECH traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,491,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,932,330. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.48. Bio-Techne Corp has a 12 month low of $43.19 and a 12 month high of $72.88. The stock has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.29.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 9th. The biotechnology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $299.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.60 million. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This is a decrease from Bio-Techne’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 29.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Zacks Research raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Bio-Techne from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Argus cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.92.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne is a life sciences company that develops and supplies products and services used in biological research, drug development, and clinical diagnostics. Its offerings include proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, and small molecules, as well as instruments and analytical tools for studying cells and biological processes. The company also provides technologies for protein analysis, molecular diagnostics, and spatial biology. Its portfolio includes products and services associated with brands such as R&D Systems, Tocris, ProteinSimple, and Advanced Cell Diagnostics.