Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Raises Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 45.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 245,731 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 76,288 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Bio-Techne worth $17,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,339,370,000 after purchasing an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $275,188,000 after buying an additional 358,756 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,581,778 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $257,995,000 after purchasing an additional 65,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 21.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 354,478 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Citigroup lowered their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $81.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, 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.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH traded up $1.66 on Tuesday, reaching $49.17. 589,267 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,199,158. The company's 50-day moving average price is $58.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 49.71, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.01 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Bio-Techne Company 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.