MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $3.27 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,933 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,055 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 53,246 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,748,000 after buying an additional 6,845 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 135.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,423 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after buying an additional 13,474 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the 1st quarter valued at $401,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 17,926 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 80.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,972 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TECH. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $75.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.86. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.56 and a quick ratio of 3.26.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $289.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

About Bio-Techne

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.