Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 298,489 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 41,929 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.19% of Bio-Techne worth $23,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,994,625 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,186,641,000 after purchasing an additional 105,985 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 382.9% in the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,153,947 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $592,919,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672,587 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,414,193 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $523,591,000 after purchasing an additional 136,127 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,445,265 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,924,978,000 after purchasing an additional 18,627 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,741,171 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $277,019,000 after purchasing an additional 65,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TECH. Stephens dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, December 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.11.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ TECH traded down $0.98 on Monday, reaching $69.41. 772,939 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,092,017. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 4.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.92. The company has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.01, a PEG ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.22. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $51.79 and a 12 month high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 19.58%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given 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 was Friday, February 9th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 23.19%.

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.