MML Investors Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

MML Investors Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,117 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.1% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 12.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,917 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 51.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 38.5% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on TECH. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.00.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of TECH opened at $73.17 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.48.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

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.