DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Has $1.35 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 17.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,553 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.8% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC grew its position in Bio-Techne by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 1,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 5.6% during the first quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $66.73 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.79. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91. The company has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a PE ratio of 48.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 4.37 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The company had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.19%.

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.