Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 23,802 Shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,780 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 23,802 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.46% of NetScout Systems worth $8,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in NetScout Systems by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 32,700 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 6.2% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 10,552 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in NetScout Systems by 0.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 113,771 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in NetScout Systems by 1,857.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,096 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,313 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NetScout Systems Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ NTCT opened at $29.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.68 and its 200 day moving average is $26.19. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92 and a beta of 0.64. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.12 and a 1-year high of $30.67.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The technology company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $250.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $233.69 million. NetScout Systems had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.370-2.450 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetScout Systems

In related news, Director Christopher Perretta sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total transaction of $280,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 40,866 shares in the company, valued at $1,144,656.66. This represents a 19.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Sanjay Munshi sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.23, for a total value of $54,460.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,296.42. The trade was a 24.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTCT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on NetScout Systems from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NetScout Systems in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of NetScout Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc is a leading provider of network performance management, service assurance and cybersecurity solutions. The company designs and delivers hardware and software platforms that capture and analyze real-time and historical packet data, enabling IT teams and service providers to monitor application performance, troubleshoot network issues and defend against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. NetScout’s flagship offerings include the nGeniusONE service assurance platform and the InfiniStream packet broker, which together provide end-to-end visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, NetScout has built a reputation for scalable and resilient monitoring infrastructure.