Hilton Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Hilton Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,745 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH stock opened at $59.88 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $56.60 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a PE ratio of 60.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.43.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on TECH shares. StockNews.com lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

About Bio-Techne

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.