Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Purchases 77,638 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 690,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,638 shares during the quarter. Bio-Techne comprises 4.4% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $53,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at about $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,195,000 after buying an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Bio-Techne by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Bio-Techne by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 642,878 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $49,604,000 after buying an additional 26,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $62.66. The stock had a trading volume of 965,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,047. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $89.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.02, a P/E/G ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 4.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.54.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The business had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.19%.

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.