First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Buys 120,275 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4,392.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 123,013 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 120,275 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $8,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 51.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Bio-Techne Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of TECH opened at $77.05 on Friday. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $85.57. The firm has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 4.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.22 and a 200 day moving average of $74.53.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $289.46 million during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.