Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $5.02, but opened at $5.14. Neogen shares last traded at $5.20, with a volume of 2,863,583 shares trading hands.

Specifically, CAO John Patrick Moylan acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.07 per share, for a total transaction of $50,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,700. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on NEOG shares. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Neogen from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $16.50) on shares of Neogen in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Neogen Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of -2.55 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.02). Neogen had a negative net margin of 52.12% and a positive return on equity of 2.89%. The business had revenue of $221.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.27 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Neogen Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Neogen

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Neogen during the 4th quarter worth about $212,171,000. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Neogen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,801,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Neogen by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,637,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,676,000 after buying an additional 1,928,491 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Neogen by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,114,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521,560 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,939,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.73% of the company’s stock.

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.