Aviva PLC Grows Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Aviva PLC lifted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1,546.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,063 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,289 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $6,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after purchasing an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $287,488,000 after buying an additional 98,660 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,040,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $147,002,000 after buying an additional 354,478 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter valued at $137,301,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,465,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $105,574,000 after buying an additional 51,687 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on TECH shares. Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $48.81 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.30, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $48.34 and a 52-week high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In related news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bio-Techne Profile

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.