Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 2,700 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 19.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,490 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TECH. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 734,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,646,000 after buying an additional 118,534 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 856,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $66,089,000 after acquiring an additional 119,295 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Bio-Techne by 55.3% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 261,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,166,000 after purchasing an additional 93,107 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 135,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,465,000 after purchasing an additional 11,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 152.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 32,378 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 19,530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $74.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.87 and a quick ratio of 2.75. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $85.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.88. The company has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of 59.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.27.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. The company had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.49 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Bio-Techne’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. Citigroup cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.60.

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.