By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,465,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 51,687 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.92% of Bio-Techne worth $105,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth about $89,724,000. American Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,114,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,073,000 after buying an additional 27,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $88,267,000 after buying an additional 17,114 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.
Get Our Latest Analysis on TECH
Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.5 %
NASDAQ TECH opened at $64.37 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 65.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.68. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $58.98 and a 52 week high of $85.57.
Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne
In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
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.
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