Allstate Corp Invests $334,000 in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,639 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 60.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $58.38 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $56.60 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.38 and its 200-day moving average is $71.12. The stock has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly 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 research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

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.