Summit Trail Advisors LLC Takes $322,000 Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,474 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 16,038 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter worth approximately $1,188,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Broadcrest Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,986,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of TECH stock opened at $67.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.14 and a 200 day moving average of $74.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 68.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $85.57.

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

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TECH shares. 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 raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on 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 objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

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.