Nicholas Company Inc. Sells 325 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Nicholas Company Inc. lessened its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 258,674 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $18,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TECH. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $62.16 on Friday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 62.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.29.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 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%. Equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’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 approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 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 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. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Bio-Techne

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.