Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Acquired by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,912 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 265 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 3.5 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $62.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.89. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $58.98 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.83, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

Insider Activity

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