Accredited Investors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 31.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,727 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,363 shares during the quarter. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,479,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $275,188,000 after acquiring an additional 358,756 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weitz Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 707.7% in the 4th quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 381,250 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,461,000 after acquiring an additional 334,050 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TECH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Baird R W lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $54.07 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $62.21 and its 200-day moving average is $69.95. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $46.44 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 54.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45.

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 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%. On average, analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 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.