Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Purchases 268 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,137 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after buying an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,188,000. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,986,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of Bio-Techne 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 owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % 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 NASDAQ TECH opened at $62.16 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.79, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. 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 $56.60 and a 12 month 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. As a group, analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 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.