Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Receives “Sell” Rating from Benchmark

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)‘s stock had its “sell” rating restated by investment analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $440.00 price target on the Internet television network’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 28.18% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on NFLX. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Netflix from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Netflix from $595.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $713.00 price target (up previously from $638.00) on shares of Netflix in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Netflix from $615.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Netflix from $500.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Netflix presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $614.75.

Netflix Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NFLX traded down $1.07 on Thursday, hitting $612.62. 571,441 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,189,539. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $604.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $511.17. Netflix has a 1 year low of $315.62 and a 1 year high of $639.00.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The Internet television network reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.20 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $8.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.72 billion. Netflix had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 24.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Netflix will post 17.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Netflix

In other news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 20,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.42, for a total value of $12,553,897.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 28 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,091.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 20,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.42, for a total value of $12,553,897.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 28 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,091.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David A. Hyman sold 267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.01, for a total transaction of $148,454.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,575,476.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 268,335 shares of company stock valued at $151,619,811. Insiders own 2.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,438,570 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $17,741,211,000 after buying an additional 178,286 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,195,490 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $5,595,196,000 after buying an additional 62,507 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,744,636 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $5,718,265,000 after buying an additional 78,320 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,463,661 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,906,005,000 after buying an additional 644,162 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 40.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,452,271 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $2,654,602,000 after buying an additional 1,573,978 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and games across various genres and languages. The company also provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, TV set-top boxes, and mobile devices.