NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) EVP John Downing Sells 3,000 Shares

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.25, for a total value of $72,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 130,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,161,036. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

NetScout Systems Price Performance

Shares of NetScout Systems stock remained flat at $24.18 during midday trading on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 417,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 416,988. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.13 and a beta of 0.60. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.10 and a 1-year high of $27.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.57.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. NetScout Systems had a positive return on equity of 6.76% and a negative net margin of 50.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of NetScout Systems from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 4.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,929,551 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,975,000 after acquiring an additional 81,154 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 495,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,766,000 after purchasing an additional 120,000 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,053,606 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $22,916,000 after purchasing an additional 207,171 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 163,272 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 36,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,783,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc provides service assurance and cybersecurity solutions for protect digital business services against disruptions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers nGeniusONE management software that enables customers to predict, preempt, and resolve network and service delivery problems, as well as facilitate the optimization and capacity planning of their network infrastructures; and specialized platforms and analytic modules that enable its customers to analyze and troubleshoot traffic in radio access and Wi-Fi networks.