Versant Capital Management Inc Boosts Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 35.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% during the 2nd 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. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock opened at $73.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.17. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 4.56.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.