Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 43,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,428,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,063,939 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,379,000 after acquiring an additional 113,634 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,814 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1,118.3% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,401 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 31.1% in the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 134.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 868 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $52.82 on Wednesday. Bio-Techne Corp has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $72.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.08 and a current ratio of 4.54. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.66 and a 200 day moving average of $60.04.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 6.67%.The business had revenue of $295.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.20 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on TECH. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.77.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

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.