Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,251,156 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,713 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.74% of NetScout Systems worth $27,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 570,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,346,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 32,692 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 21,320 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in NetScout Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $553,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 23,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 347,650 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,530,000 after buying an additional 11,617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetScout Systems

In other NetScout Systems news, EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.25, for a total transaction of $72,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 130,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,161,036. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total transaction of $152,555.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 35,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,661.83. This represents a 15.30 % 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 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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 upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

NetScout Systems Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTCT opened at $21.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.10 and a 12 month high of $27.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of -3.59 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.88.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts expect that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

NetScout Systems Company Profile

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.