Farringdon Capital Ltd. Purchases Shares of 4,154 Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,154 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of TECH. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $137,301,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,479,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,820,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $275,188,000 after purchasing an additional 358,756 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 21.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Bio-Techne by 707.7% during the fourth quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 381,250 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,461,000 after buying an additional 334,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.14.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. This represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $48.10 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $46.44 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.59, a P/E/G 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 (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. Equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

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.