Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Grows Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,038 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $2,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 831.4% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 41,244 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 113.4% in the 3rd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 39,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Bio-Techne by 11.1% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 611,813 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,646,000 after purchasing an additional 61,190 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 32.6% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $63.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.61. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $51.79 and a 12-month high of $89.91. 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 (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $277.48 million. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 19.58%. Equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

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

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.