Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of TECH. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,309,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $101,025,000 after acquiring an additional 170,100 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $941,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Equitable Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $402,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 68,293 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,269,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $62.21 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.65. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The company has a market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.08, a P/E/G ratio of 7.24 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 posted its 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 firm had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.48 million. Research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TECH. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.90.

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.