PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 11,450 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 144,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,450 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $11,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TECH. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Bio-Techne by 4.5% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,305,826 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $225,028,000 after buying an additional 143,716 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Techne by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,399,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $185,132,000 after purchasing an additional 70,294 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 14.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,880,812 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $128,027,000 after purchasing an additional 241,771 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Bio-Techne by 2.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,627,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,755,000 after purchasing an additional 38,223 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Bio-Techne in the fourth quarter worth $119,771,000. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Techne from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Bio-Techne from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Bio-Techne from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TECH opened at $82.98 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.88 and a current ratio of 4.08. The firm has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 1.23. Bio-Techne Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.79 and a fifty-two week high of $89.91.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Bio-Techne’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Activity at Bio-Techne

In other Bio-Techne news, Director Roeland Nusse sold 10,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 43,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,317,607.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.