Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,493 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,642 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $756,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TECH. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $89,724,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at $20,071,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $205,081,000 after buying an additional 216,044 shares during the period. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,986,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,395,993 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,232,000 after buying an additional 95,133 shares during the period. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TECH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

NASDAQ:TECH opened at $78.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $73.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.43. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $61.16 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 34.04%.

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.