BNP Paribas Financial Markets Grows Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 61.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 281,747 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 107,667 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $20,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Bio-Techne by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $49.98 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $46.01 and a 1 year high of $85.57. The stock has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.24.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.05. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. The company had revenue of $316.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.92 million. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.32%.

Bio-Techne declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the biotechnology company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on TECH. Baird R W downgraded Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the 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 directly owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.