Amy E. Herr Sells 1,860 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Stock

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $65.80 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $61.16 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. On average, analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bio-Techne

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 85,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,123,000 after purchasing an additional 32,173 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $283,000. GTS Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 4,107 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 924,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,608,000 after purchasing an additional 170,377 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth about $687,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.29.

Bio-Techne Company 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.