Swiss National Bank Reduces Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 448,100 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 19,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Bio-Techne worth $32,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,465,690 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $105,574,000 after buying an additional 51,687 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. Finally, American Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $89,073,000 after buying an additional 27,508 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 0.4 %

TECH traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,581,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,076,672. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $56.60 and a one year high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $68.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.97.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. As a group, analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.