Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,617 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,651 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 831.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,565,000 after purchasing an additional 41,244 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 113.4% in the 3rd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 39,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 21,200 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 611,813 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,646,000 after acquiring an additional 61,190 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.06. 973,784 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 917,625. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $89.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 4.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.42, a P/E/G ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.48.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.48 million. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank assumed 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 target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

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.