Polen Capital Management LLC Sells 6,683 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Polen Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,760 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 6,683 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 860,751 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,000,000 after buying an additional 15,353 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 317.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 136,243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,814,000 after acquiring an additional 103,627 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 169,681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,222,000 after purchasing an additional 11,625 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 4,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 30,414 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,191,000 after buying an additional 5,745 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TECH has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of TECH stock opened at $62.16 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $56.60 and a 1 year high of $85.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.79, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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.