Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Holdings in Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Neogen Co. (NASDAQ:NEOG - Free Report) by 33.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 923,918 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 233,796 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.43% of Neogen worth $15,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Neogen by 64.7% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 12,013,072 shares of the company's stock worth $187,764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,717,696 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in Neogen by 23.1% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 15,530,439 shares of the company's stock valued at $242,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,893 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Neogen by 148.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,109,180 shares of the company's stock worth $64,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454,566 shares during the period. Shapiro Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Neogen in the second quarter worth about $31,087,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Neogen by 86.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,986,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,017,000 after buying an additional 1,849,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John Edward Adent purchased 14,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.80 per share, with a total value of $200,100.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 216,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,987,382.60. This represents a 7.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NEOG shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Neogen to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim started coverage on Neogen in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $15.00 price target for the company.

Neogen Price Performance

Shares of NEOG stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.04. The stock had a trading volume of 4,133,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,693. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $14.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of -109.45 and a beta of 1.21. Neogen Co. has a 12 month low of $11.46 and a 12 month high of $20.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.41, a quick ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $217.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.05 million. Neogen had a negative net margin of 2.58% and a positive return on equity of 2.80%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% 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 0.5 EPS for the current 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.