Geode Capital Management LLC Has $287.49 Million Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,001,296 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,660 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $287,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,594,608 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,339,370,000 after buying an additional 275,644 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $511,232,000 after acquiring an additional 95,133 shares during 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 valued at $147,002,000 after acquiring an additional 354,478 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at about $137,301,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $105,574,000 after purchasing an additional 51,687 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 5.7 %

Shares of TECH stock opened at $51.72 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.44 and a 200-day moving average of $70.82. The stock has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52-week low of $50.35 and a 52-week high of $85.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their target price on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total transaction of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

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.