Caprock Group LLC Buys 217 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Caprock Group LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,622 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 6.2% during the first quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,185 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.9% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,917 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 51.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $71.19 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

Bio-Techne Company 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.