UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Buys 4,489 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,823 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,489 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,724,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,479,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter valued at $20,071,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.25.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

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

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH opened at $58.73 on Monday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $56.60 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.44.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

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.