Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 7.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,637 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 10,313 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned 0.08% of Bio-Techne worth $9,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 29.1% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,164 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,559 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 6,900 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 32,493 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,287,000 after buying an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.96. The stock had a trading volume of 649,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,013,346. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $55.63 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.28. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $74.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.98. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.04%.

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.