American Century Companies Inc. Sells 24,862 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 681,981 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 24,862 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Bio-Techne worth $49,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $147,002,000 after acquiring an additional 354,478 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 51,687 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $89,724,000. Finally, American Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the third quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,114,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,073,000 after purchasing an additional 27,508 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on TECH. Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was 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 Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $59.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 59.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.23 and a 200-day moving average of $71.64. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $56.60 and a 1-year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

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.