Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock Holdings Lowered by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,512 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 354 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $5,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in 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 worth $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,188,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 254,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,298,000 after acquiring an additional 25,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TECH shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Baird R W lowered 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 Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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 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, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $58.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 59.32, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $56.60 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.44.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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