Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 899 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 899 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Bio-Techne by 1,116.2% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 403,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,107,000 after buying an additional 370,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Bio-Techne by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,476,552 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $168,579,000 after buying an additional 300,903 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Bio-Techne by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $128,027,000 after buying an additional 241,771 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,499,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Bio-Techne by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,329,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $154,881,000 after buying an additional 200,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH traded up $0.89 on Tuesday, reaching $63.69. The stock had a trading volume of 816,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,062,582. The company has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.35 and a 200-day moving average of $68.61. The company has a current ratio of 4.37, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $272.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stephens decreased their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.90.

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.