Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,422 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,305,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $225,028,000 after purchasing an additional 143,716 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $168,579,000 after acquiring an additional 300,903 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,399,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $185,132,000 after acquiring an additional 70,294 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $128,027,000 after acquiring an additional 241,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,627,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $110,755,000 after acquiring an additional 38,223 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.90.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $63.52 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The stock has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.03, a PEG ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $70.28 and a 200-day moving average of $68.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 4.37.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The firm had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. Equities analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.19%.

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.