Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 173 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,465,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,574,000 after buying an additional 51,687 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter worth $89,724,000. Finally, American Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,114,393 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $89,073,000 after buying an additional 27,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $63.39 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.98 and its 200 day moving average is $72.81. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $58.98 and a 1 year high of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. 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 (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on TECH. StockNews.com upgraded Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Insider Activity 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 stock was 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 approximately $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 is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.