Focus Financial Network Inc. Sells 1,000 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Focus Financial Network Inc. cut its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,780 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after acquiring an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after purchasing an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at $89,724,000. American Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,114,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,073,000 after buying an additional 27,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $88,267,000 after buying an additional 17,114 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Down 1.2 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $65.94 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $73.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.96. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.61, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 3.26.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s 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.