American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 924,571 Shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG) by 55.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,606,043 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 924,571 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Neogen were worth $31,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NEOG. Semanteon Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Neogen by 152.3% during the fourth quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 56,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 33,843 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Neogen by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 30,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 2,468 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Neogen by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 14,346,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,825 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in Neogen in the 4th quarter valued at about $248,000. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Neogen by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 432,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,246,000 after purchasing an additional 17,134 shares in the last quarter. 96.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NEOG shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price target (down from $16.50) on shares of Neogen in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim started coverage on Neogen in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Neogen

In related news, CEO John Edward Adent purchased 23,035 shares of Neogen stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.03 per share, for a total transaction of $254,076.05. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 269,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,968,878.92. This trade represents a 9.36 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David H. Naemura acquired 14,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.11 per share, with a total value of $164,428.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 61,434 shares in the company, valued at $682,531.74. This represents a 31.74 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Neogen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NEOG opened at $8.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.14 and a 200-day moving average of $12.76. Neogen Co. has a 12 month low of $8.31 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of -3.95 and a beta of 1.27.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $231.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.16 million. Neogen had a negative net margin of 52.12% and a positive return on equity of 2.89%. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Neogen Co. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.