Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,015 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,906 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Neogen were worth $644,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Neogen by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 2,379 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Neogen by 196.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 2,233 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in Neogen by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 36,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 8,580 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Neogen in the 4th quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Neogen by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 35,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 6,467 shares during the period. 96.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Neogen

In other Neogen news, CEO John Edward Adent bought 23,035 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David H. Naemura purchased 14,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.11 per share, for a total transaction of $164,428.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 61,434 shares in the company, valued at $682,531.74. The trade was a 31.74 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Neogen Price Performance

NEOG opened at $9.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.21. Neogen Co. has a 12-month low of $9.70 and a 12-month high of $18.58. 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 $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.49 and a beta of 1.23.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $231.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.16 million. Neogen had a positive return on equity of 2.89% and a negative net margin of 52.12%. Neogen’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Neogen Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Neogen Company 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.