NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

NetScout Systems Price Performance

Shares of NTCT stock opened at $18.41 on Thursday. NetScout Systems has a 1 year low of $17.91 and a 1 year high of $31.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.00 and its 200-day moving average is $21.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.77 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $203.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.94 million. NetScout Systems had a positive return on equity of 5.11% and a negative net margin of 17.81%. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetScout Systems will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael Szabados sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total transaction of $102,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,324.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTCT. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 2.8% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 27,893 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $782,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 1.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 156,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 7.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 916,711 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,686,000 after purchasing an additional 59,755 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetScout Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 10.3% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 87,387 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,449,000 after purchasing an additional 8,182 shares in the last quarter. 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.