Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 200 Shares of Bio-Techne Corp $TECH

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $417,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 18,187 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 331,912 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,077,000 after purchasing an additional 2,760 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 8,149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth about $291,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Stephens raised Bio-Techne to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup upgraded Bio-Techne from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.58.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $65.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.00. Bio-Techne Corp has a 52-week low of $46.01 and a 52-week high of $80.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.48.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm had revenue of $316.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Corp will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.57%.

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.