Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 922 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,422 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,305,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $225,028,000 after buying an additional 143,716 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,476,552 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $168,579,000 after buying an additional 300,903 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,399,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $185,132,000 after buying an additional 70,294 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $128,027,000 after buying an additional 241,771 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,627,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,755,000 after purchasing an additional 38,223 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $63.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.28 and its 200-day moving average is $68.58. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. Equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is presently 23.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on TECH. Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $800,592.00. Following the sale, 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. 4.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.