US Bancorp DE Acquires 673 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 151,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $10,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,646,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 42,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 72.3% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 13,276 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 5,570 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 20,266 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peloton Wealth Strategists raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 5,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $61.19 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.09. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $60.39 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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 note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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, Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.29.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, 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 is available through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade 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 corporate insiders.

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.