L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Sells 2,575 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lowered its stake in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,575 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the second quarter valued at about $564,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 674.2% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,378 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at about $185,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,773 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 16,347 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.29, for a total value of $1,035,067.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,014,619.16. This 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 through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on TECH. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

Shares of TECH opened at $68.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.94. The stock has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.32%.

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.