Allstate Corp Makes New $334,000 Investment in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in 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 bought 4,639 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TECH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter worth about $137,301,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at approximately $89,724,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,479,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,339,370,000 after acquiring an additional 275,644 shares in the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on TECH shares. StockNews.com cut Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Baird R W cut shares of Bio-Techne from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Bio-Techne in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ TECH opened at $58.38 on Thursday. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $56.60 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $65.38 and its 200 day moving average is $71.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of Bio-Techne stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at $130,336.96. This trade represents a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.