New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $2.86 Million Investment in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 39,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,864,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of TECH opened at $58.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $56.60 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.45.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

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.