GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Takes $805,000 Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $805,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TECH. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the fourth 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 institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of TECH opened at $62.90 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $70.61 and its 200 day moving average is $72.68. The company has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 63.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $58.98 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’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 value of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.