Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Purchases 1,023 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,570 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 831.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after buying an additional 41,244 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 734,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $56,646,000 after purchasing an additional 118,534 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 856,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,089,000 after purchasing an additional 119,295 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 55.3% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 261,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,166,000 after purchasing an additional 93,107 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 135,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,465,000 after purchasing an additional 11,947 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on TECH. Citigroup cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.17. 229,023 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,095,781. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a PE ratio of 56.54, a P/E/G ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.29. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.88, a current ratio of 4.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The business’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

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.