NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Trading 0.7% Higher – What’s Next?

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $21.40 and last traded at $21.45. 34,282 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 534,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

NetScout Systems Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.68 and a beta of 0.64. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.64 and a 200 day moving average of $21.98.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. NetScout Systems had a negative net margin of 50.90% and a positive return on equity of 6.76%. On average, analysts expect that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.25, for a total transaction of $72,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 130,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,161,036. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total transaction of $287,016.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 71,361 shares in the company, valued at $1,706,955.12. This represents a 14.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,499 shares of company stock valued at $512,321 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetScout Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 80,507 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,744,000 after purchasing an additional 28,583 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 28.4% in 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 during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in NetScout Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,783,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,251,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,100,000 after buying an additional 85,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.