Hills Bank & Trust Co Grows Stock Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,804 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1,116.2% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 403,148 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,107,000 after purchasing an additional 370,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Bio-Techne by 14.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $128,027,000 after acquiring an additional 241,771 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $15,499,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,309,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $101,025,000 after purchasing an additional 170,100 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,305,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $225,028,000 after purchasing an additional 143,716 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bio-Techne Stock Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ TECH traded up $2.58 on Thursday, reaching $79.63. The company had a trading volume of 816,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,109,184. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 63.20, a P/E/G ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.10 and a 200-day moving average of $68.88. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.08 and a quick ratio of 2.88.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $303.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on TECH. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.50.

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.