Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Sold by Southeast Asset Advisors LLC

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC cut its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,665 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,975 shares during the quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TECH. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 5.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $51.72 on Monday. The company 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.78. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $49.38 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Equities research 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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 0.62%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

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.