Hilton Capital Management LLC Sells 1,283 Shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

Hilton Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,669 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,283 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Techne in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Bio-Techne by 922.5% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Techne during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Techne by 1,427.8% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TECH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Bio-Techne in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Bio-Techne from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Bio-Techne from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bio-Techne from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bio-Techne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.78.

Bio-Techne Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Bio-Techne stock opened at $66.37 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.35. The company has a current ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.61, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.28. Bio-Techne Co. has a 12-month low of $61.11 and a 12-month high of $85.57.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $289.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.22 million. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 12.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Bio-Techne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

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.