Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 46,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 16,038 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth $1,188,000. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Techne by 100.0% during the third quarter. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,986,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $64.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.98 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. 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.