Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,996 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 358 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 298,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,031,000 after acquiring an additional 41,929 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 236.0% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,695 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 13,833 shares in the last quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. now owns 13,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $529,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne 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 transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $62.80 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.61. The company has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of 45.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 4.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.21%. As a group, analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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

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.