New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 22,145 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 544,058 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,145 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $39,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.5 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $65.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.91 and a 200-day moving average of $73.52. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The company has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. On average, equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Baird R W lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.29.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

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.