Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 98,660 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 98,660 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.52% of Bio-Techne worth $287,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the 4th 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,301,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,465,690 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $105,574,000 after buying an additional 51,687 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value 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 $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $4.99 on Thursday, reaching $49.08. 500,467 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,162,869. The firm has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 49.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.95. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $46.44 and a 12 month high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.25.

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.