Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) Shares Up 4.8% - Still a Buy?

Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 4.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $6.42 and last traded at $6.41. 142,455 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 3,051,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on NEOG. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Neogen from $6.40 to $5.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Neogen from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th.

Neogen Trading Down 4.7%

The firm's 50-day moving average is $6.17 and its 200-day moving average is $9.72. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.70 and a beta of 1.83.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $221.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $225.27 million. Neogen had a positive return on equity of 2.89% and a negative net margin of 52.12%. Neogen's revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Neogen Co. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aashima Gupta acquired 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $6.25 per share, with a total value of $100,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 21,917 shares of the company's stock, valued at $136,981.25. The trade was a 270.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Amy M. Rocklin acquired 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.99 per share, for a total transaction of $62,375.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 36,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,072.13. The trade was a 52.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 83,500 shares of company stock valued at $431,525 in the last three months. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Neogen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Connable Office Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 18,793 shares of the company's stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 41.4% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,103 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,226 shares of the company's stock worth $173,000 after buying an additional 1,304 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 12,498 shares of the company's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 14,340 shares of the company's stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 2,165 shares during the last quarter. 96.73% of the stock is 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.