Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,821 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $147,002,000 after acquiring an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Choreo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 34,402 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Point Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 84.2% during the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 16,038 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 7,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TECH opened at $68.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.03, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.31 and a 200 day moving average of $74.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.94, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57.

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 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TECH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.57.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.90% 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.