William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 35,352 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,074,883 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 35,352 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.68% of Bio-Techne worth $77,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $511,232,000 after acquiring an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $147,002,000 after purchasing an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth about $89,724,000. Finally, American Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on TECH. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.61. 2,581,174 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,076,672. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $56.60 and a 52-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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.97. 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.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne's payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.