Marshall Wace LLP Sells 108,334 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Marshall Wace LLP lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,983,737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 108,334 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 1.26% of Bio-Techne worth $142,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% during 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. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $77.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.87 and a quick ratio of 2.75. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 61.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.99.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm had revenue of $306.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.60.

Bio-Techne 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.