By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
M&T Bank Corp lowered its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 558 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TECH. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 12.2% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 261,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth $125,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 58.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 32.8% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 22,891 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,659 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently commented on TECH. KeyCorp upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.14.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Bio-Techne
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.
Bio-Techne Stock Performance
Shares of TECH opened at $58.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $58.20 and a 52-week high of $85.57.
Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Bio-Techne Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.
Bio-Techne Company 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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TECH? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH – Free Report).
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