Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by WCM Investment Management LLC

WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,566 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.1% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% in 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 in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $69.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $61.16 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.24.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

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.