California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 245,545 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,575 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Bio-Techne worth $17,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $1,188,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,298,000 after buying an additional 25,650 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 736,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,641,000 after acquiring an additional 79,629 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TECH. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI started coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $51.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.85. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.35 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 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.