Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 22,664 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,901 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 22,664 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.09% of Bio-Techne worth $11,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TECH. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 255.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 733 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH opened at $75.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.08 and a quick ratio of 3.03. The company has a market capitalization of $11.88 billion, a PE ratio of 60.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.49. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1 year low of $51.79 and a 1 year high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company had revenue of $303.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Bio-Techne’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on TECH. Stephens decreased their price target on Bio-Techne from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $800,592.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.