Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 4,298 Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Bio-Techne by 11.1% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 611,813 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,646,000 after acquiring an additional 61,190 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $815,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 113.4% in the third quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 39,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after buying an additional 21,200 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 32.6% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 737,219 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $50,182,000 after buying an additional 15,633 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TECH. Scotiabank began coverage on 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. Stephens lowered their target price on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. 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 report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $62.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 4.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $70.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.65. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $51.79 and a 52 week high of $89.91. The company has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a PE ratio of 45.08, a P/E/G ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.22.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 19.58%. The firm had revenue of $272.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.48 million. On average, analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.53 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 issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.