Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $612,000 Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TECH. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $185,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 6.0% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,773 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 16,347 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Bio-Techne by 2.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 356,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,503,000 after purchasing an additional 8,457 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $218,000. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

TECH stock opened at $65.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 65.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $73.59 and its 200-day moving average is $73.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 3.26. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 13.22%. Equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 32.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on TECH shares. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In related news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. This trade represents a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total transaction of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,336.96. The trade was a 48.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bio-Techne Company 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.