Voya Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 439,588 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,423 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.28% of Bio-Techne worth $31,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $767,428,000 after buying an additional 1,229,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,581,778 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $257,995,000 after purchasing an additional 65,686 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on TECH shares. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $81.14.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $49.83. 436,907 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,215,718. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.31. 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 fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.