Proficio Capital Partners LLC Has $17.47 Million Stock Holdings in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 8,079.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 242,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 239,560 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Bio-Techne worth $17,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after buying an additional 16,038 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Bio-Techne during the third quarter worth $1,188,000. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Techne by 100.0% during the third quarter. Broadcrest Asset Management LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,986,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bio-Techne in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 98.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Bio-Techne from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Bio-Techne from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bio-Techne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.29.

Insider Activity

In other Bio-Techne 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy E. Herr sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.96, for a total value of $122,685.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,336.96. This 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock opened at $61.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a current ratio of 3.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.27. Bio-Techne Co. has a 52 week low of $60.94 and a 52 week high of $85.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.69 and a 200-day moving average of $73.09.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Bio-Techne had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 12.73%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.