Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) Short Interest Up 19.0% in March

Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,270,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the February 28th total of 5,270,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Techne

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,654,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $767,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,954 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after acquiring an additional 95,133 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,702,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $338,756,000 after purchasing an additional 317,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $287,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TECH shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Baird R W cut Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.8 %

TECH opened at $58.38 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.12. 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 has a 12 month low of $56.60 and a 12 month high of $85.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.97, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

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.