Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 159,594 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 801,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 159,594 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $57,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 10,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Bio-Techne by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Bio-Techne by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TECH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Bio-Techne from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Bio-Techne Stock Performance

TECH stock opened at $58.63 on Tuesday. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $56.60 and a 12-month high of $85.57. The firm has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 59.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.22 and a 200-day moving average of $71.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 32.32%.

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.