Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Has $357,000 Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,951 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TECH. State Street Corp boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth $89,724,000. American Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in 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 buying an additional 27,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $88,267,000 after acquiring an additional 17,114 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $68.34 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 69.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on TECH shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

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.