Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 317,349 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 2.96% of Bio-Techne worth $338,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,295 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $18,298,000 after purchasing an additional 25,650 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth $3,940,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 736,340 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $52,641,000 after buying an additional 79,629 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $63.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.98. 3,168,915 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,253,274. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a PE ratio of 50.48, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $54.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.24. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $46.01 and a one year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Bio-Techne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the biotechnology company to buy up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.