Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Piper Sandler

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $13.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $16.50. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.29% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NEOG. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Neogen in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Neogen to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th.

Neogen Stock Performance

NEOG traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.79. 989,112 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,345,703. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a 52-week low of $10.72 and a 52-week high of $18.58.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.12. Neogen had a positive return on equity of 2.89% and a negative net margin of 52.12%. The business had revenue of $231.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.16 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Neogen will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO David H. Naemura acquired 14,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.11 per share, with a total value of $164,428.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,434 shares in the company, valued at $682,531.74. This represents a 31.74 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John Edward Adent acquired 23,035 shares of Neogen stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.03 per share, for a total transaction of $254,076.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 269,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Neogen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NEOG. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Neogen by 142.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Neogen in the third quarter worth $66,000. Marco Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Neogen in the third quarter worth $169,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of Neogen during the 4th quarter worth about $169,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. bought a new position in shares of Neogen during the third quarter valued at approximately $182,000. 96.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.