Accredited Investors Inc. Grows Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Accredited Investors Inc. grew its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,727 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,363 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the 4th 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. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 1,355.6% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on TECH. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Wednesday. Baird R W lowered 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 Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $54.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.95. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $46.44 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its 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%. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related 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 value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 currently owned by company insiders.

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.