Norges Bank Takes Position in Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 17,477,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,171,000. Norges Bank owned 0.08% of Neogen at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Neogen by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 116,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after buying an additional 17,119 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Neogen by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,637,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,928,491 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC grew its holdings in Neogen by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 326,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,963,000 after acquiring an additional 19,507 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Neogen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Neogen by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 179,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after purchasing an additional 26,002 shares in the last quarter. 96.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NEOG shares. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Neogen in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $16.50) on shares of Neogen in a report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Neogen news, CFO David H. Naemura bought 14,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.11 per share, for a total transaction of $164,428.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 61,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $682,531.74. The trade was a 31.74 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John Edward Adent purchased 23,035 shares of Neogen stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.03 per share, with a total value of $254,076.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 269,164 shares in the company, valued at $2,968,878.92. The trade was a 9.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Neogen Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of Neogen stock opened at $8.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.72. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.95 and a beta of 1.27. Neogen Co. has a 12-month low of $8.31 and a 12-month high of $18.58.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.12. Neogen had a negative net margin of 52.12% and a positive return on equity of 2.89%. The company had revenue of $231.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Neogen’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Neogen Co. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Neogen

Neogen Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of various products and services dedicated to food and animal safety worldwide. It operates through two segments, Food Safety and Animal Safety. The Food Safety segment offers diagnostic test kits and related products to detect dangerous and unintended substances in food and animal feed, including foodborne pathogens, spoilage organisms, natural toxins, food allergens, genetic modifications, ruminant by-products, meat speciation, drug residues, pesticide residues, and general sanitation concerns; and AccuPoint Advanced rapid sanitation test to detect the presence of adenosine triphosphate, a chemical found in living cells, as well as provides genomics-based diagnostic technology and software systems that help testers to objectively analyze and store their results and perform analysis on the results from multiple locations over extended periods.