Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Has $13.11 Million Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,934 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 53,585 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned 0.11% of Bio-Techne worth $13,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 763 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bio-Techne

In other news, CEO Kim Kelderman sold 13,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,014,619.16. The trade was a 25.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on 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 upgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 1.2 %

TECH stock opened at $65.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bio-Techne Co. has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.61, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.59 and a 200-day moving average of $73.73.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.