Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 40.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 171,557 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,574 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.11% of Bio-Techne worth $12,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,232,000 after purchasing an additional 95,133 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% during 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 period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $89,724,000. American Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 27,508 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TECH opened at $65.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 66.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.90. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

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.