Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 211,852 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Rating) by 306.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 281,008 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 211,852 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $23,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 488.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 176.9% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 479 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Private Ocean LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 536 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 363.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 584 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. 23.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on TECH shares. SVB Leerink reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $99.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Bio-Techne from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.45.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $83.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a PE ratio of 50.23, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.26. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $68.00 and a 12 month high of $99.33. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.66.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $294.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.55 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 24.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.16%.

About Bio-Techne

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Bio-Techne Corp. engages in the development, manufacture and sale of biotechnology reagents and instruments for the research and clinical diagnostic markets. It operates through the following segments: Protein Sciences and Diagnostics and Genomics. The Protein Sciences segment develops and manufactures purified proteins and reagent solutions most notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents and T-Cell activation technologies.