9,600 Shares in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $741,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,476,552 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $168,579,000 after purchasing an additional 300,903 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $128,027,000 after purchasing an additional 241,771 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth about $15,499,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,329,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $154,881,000 after purchasing an additional 200,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,309,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $101,025,000 after acquiring an additional 170,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. 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 for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens lowered their price target 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 lowered their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.90.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $64.06 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $51.79 and a 52-week high of $89.91. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.48. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.42, a PEG ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 1.22.

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 firm had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.48 million. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.45% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Company 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.