Jones Financial Companies Lllp Buys 781 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 59.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 354,478 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at about $89,724,000. American Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,114,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $89,073,000 after purchasing an additional 27,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 845,398 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $67,573,000 after purchasing an additional 17,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.14.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $62.16 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.35. The firm has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.79, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $56.60 and a 52-week 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.