Stephens Inc. AR Grows Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 26.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,846 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth $59,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.57.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $65.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.61, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $61.16 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.96.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

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.