Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires New Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 48,459 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,497,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,416 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,355.6% during the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 707.7% in the 4th quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 381,250 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $27,461,000 after buying an additional 334,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TECH shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:TECH traded down $1.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.45. 289,136 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,181,941. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $46.44 and a 12-month 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $60.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.97, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45.

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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given 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 0.62%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm's 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 owns 1,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was 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 directly 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. Insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

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.