CIBC Asset Management Inc Grows Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,173 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Bio-Techne by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, 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 owned by insiders.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $64.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.43. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $85.57. The firm has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Bio-Techne 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.