Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG) by 26.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 580,073 shares of the company’s stock after selling 208,759 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Neogen worth $9,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Neogen by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 231,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,897,000 after purchasing an additional 130,641 shares during the period. American Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Neogen by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,414,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,401,000 after buying an additional 913,604 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Neogen in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,714,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Neogen by 39.8% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 103,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,619,000 after acquiring an additional 29,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Neogen by 17.9% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,804 shares during the period. 96.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Neogen Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ NEOG opened at $12.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.79, a current ratio of 4.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.36. Neogen Co. has a 52-week low of $11.46 and a 52-week high of $20.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -112.09 and a beta of 1.21.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.03). Neogen had a negative net margin of 2.58% and a positive return on equity of 2.80%. The business had revenue of $217.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.05 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Neogen Co. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Neogen in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Neogen to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John Edward Adent bought 14,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.80 per share, for a total transaction of $200,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 216,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,987,382.60. This represents a 7.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Neogen Profile

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.