Securian Asset Management Inc. Has $768,000 Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Securian Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,956 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,296 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 57.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 255.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 733 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.50.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of TECH stock opened at $82.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.38.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Activity

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

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.