Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 420,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 137,003 shares during the period. Bio-Techne makes up 2.4% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.26% of Bio-Techne worth $30,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of 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 increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $52.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.91 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne 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.