Natixis Advisors L.P. Has $21.93 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 28.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 284,192 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 62,632 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.18% of Bio-Techne worth $21,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 15,716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 256,560 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,464,000 after purchasing an additional 23,564 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in 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 worth $168,579,000 after purchasing an additional 300,903 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne by 64.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 67,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,613,000 after purchasing an additional 26,635 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,598 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $77.29 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.88, a current ratio of 4.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $12.15 billion, a PE ratio of 61.34, a PEG ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $89.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $303.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

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.