Brown Advisory Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 1,094.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 809,635 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 741,860 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 0.51% of Bio-Techne worth $62,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 57.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 255.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 733 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the firm'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 $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TECH shares. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Bio-Techne from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TECH traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $83.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,379,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,289,914. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.02. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $89.91. The stock has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.88 and a current ratio of 4.08.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

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.