Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Purchased by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 57.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $40,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 831.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 41,244 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 113.4% in the third quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 39,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.1% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 611,813 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,646,000 after purchasing an additional 61,190 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 0.5 %

TECH opened at $77.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.08 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 Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.81.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.50.

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.