NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

NTCT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

NetScout Systems Stock Performance

NTCT opened at $40.69 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.50. NetScout Systems has a one year low of $25.20 and a one year high of $45.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81 and a beta of 0.69.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $210.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.17 million. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 13.71%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NetScout Systems will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.41, for a total transaction of $307,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,909,143.69. This trade represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael Szabados sold 4,000 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $150,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,570,355.80. This trade represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,269 shares of company stock valued at $813,184. Company insiders own 4.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetScout Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTCT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetScout Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $498,027,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in NetScout Systems by 2.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,258,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $135,391,000 after buying an additional 110,702 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in NetScout Systems during the second quarter worth about $165,970,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in NetScout Systems by 16.8% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,258,576 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,811,000 after buying an additional 181,380 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NetScout Systems by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 642,239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,379,000 after buying an additional 78,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NetScout Systems Company Profile

NetScout Systems, Inc develops solutions that help organizations monitor, manage, and secure digital networks. Its offerings provide visibility into network traffic, application performance, user experience, and cybersecurity events across enterprise, cloud, data center, and telecommunications environments.

The company’s portfolio includes the nGenius service assurance platform, packet-based monitoring and analysis tools, network traffic management products, and cybersecurity solutions designed to detect and mitigate distributed denial-of-service attacks and other network threats.