Palisade Asset Management LLC Has $4.53 Million Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Palisade Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,609 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $4,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 922.5% in 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. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the second quarter worth $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $71.28 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $61.16 and a 52-week 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. The stock has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.28.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.78.

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.