Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Shares Bought by Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc.

Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1,355.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $81,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Bio-Techne Stock Down 2.2 %

TECH stock opened at $57.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a PE ratio of 57.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12 month low of $56.54 and a 12 month high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.21.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Equities research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

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.