Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 275,644 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 275,644 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.70% of Bio-Techne worth $1,339,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth about $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank increased 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.0 %

TECH opened at $59.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.91 and a 200 day moving average of $71.56. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $56.60 and a 12 month high of $85.57. The firm has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % 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.