Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by DF Dent & Co. Inc.

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lessened its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,201,397 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 97,298 shares during the quarter. Bio-Techne makes up about 2.9% of DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. DF Dent & Co. Inc. owned about 2.01% of Bio-Techne worth $230,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 1,355.6% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $58.38 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.97, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $56.60 and a 1-year 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.38 and a 200-day moving average of $71.12.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

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.