Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,170 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $4,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 25,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after buying an additional 3,631 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in Bio-Techne by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 860,751 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,000,000 after acquiring an additional 15,353 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 317.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 136,243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,814,000 after acquiring an additional 103,627 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 169,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,222,000 after purchasing an additional 11,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 4,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on TECH. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 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 stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $60.61 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $68.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.89. 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 company has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $56.60 and a one year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business 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 0.53%. 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.