Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 831.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,244 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,994,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,186,641,000 after buying an additional 105,985 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 382.9% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 7,153,947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $592,919,000 after buying an additional 5,672,587 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,414,193 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $523,591,000 after buying an additional 136,127 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,445,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,924,978,000 after buying an additional 18,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,741,171 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $277,019,000 after buying an additional 65,432 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.0 %

TECH opened at $62.73 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $70.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 4.37. The company has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.46, a PEG ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.22. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.45% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne 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.