William Blair Investment Management LLC Invests $188.93 Million in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,314,458 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,929,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.47% of Bio-Techne as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TECH. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,994,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,186,641,000 after acquiring an additional 105,985 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 382.9% in the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,153,947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $592,919,000 after acquiring an additional 5,672,587 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,445,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,924,978,000 after acquiring an additional 18,627 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,741,171 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $277,019,000 after acquiring an additional 65,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,043,020 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $225,762,000 after acquiring an additional 566,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 8,939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.32, for a total value of $717,980.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,872 shares in the company, valued at $4,166,359.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, August 18th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Monday, August 28th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.80.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH stock traded up $1.58 on Monday, reaching $62.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 473,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,008,655. The company has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.40. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The company has a current ratio of 4.63, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $276.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.81 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 21.57%. Analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 24th. Investors of record on Friday, November 10th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.05%.

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.