Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Stake Increased by S&CO Inc.

S&CO Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. S&CO Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Bio-Techne worth $5,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 20,917 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $1,078,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 277,925 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,897,000 after acquiring an additional 116,331 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 92,910 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,692,000 after acquiring an additional 2,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 137,131 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,004,000 after acquiring an additional 17,513 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.3 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $62.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.54, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $58.98 and a one year high of $85.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $70.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.68.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.