New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 642,878 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,724 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.41% of Bio-Techne worth $49,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,305,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $225,028,000 after purchasing an additional 143,716 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 13.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,476,552 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $168,579,000 after buying an additional 300,903 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in 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. grew its holdings 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 worth $128,027,000 after acquiring an additional 241,771 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,627,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,755,000 after acquiring an additional 38,223 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.3 %

Bio-Techne stock opened at $63.52 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $51.79 and a one year high of $89.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $70.28 and its 200 day moving average is $68.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of 46.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 4.37 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

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

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.19%.

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.