S&CO Inc. Has $5.94 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

S&CO Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $5,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth about $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH stock opened at $62.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.68. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.98 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 63.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne 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 sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.14.

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.