Morgan Stanley Boosts Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Price Target to $820.00

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $780.00 to $820.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the Internet television network’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.73% from the company’s current price.

NFLX has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on Netflix from $735.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on shares of Netflix from $740.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Netflix from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Netflix from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Netflix from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $697.35.

Netflix Stock Performance

Shares of NFLX opened at $727.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.26. Netflix has a 12-month low of $344.73 and a 12-month high of $728.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $682.31 and its 200-day moving average is $649.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The Internet television network reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by $0.14. Netflix had a return on equity of 32.93% and a net margin of 19.54%. The business had revenue of $9.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 earnings per share. Netflix’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Netflix will post 19.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Netflix

In related news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 45,290 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.16, for a total transaction of $31,981,986.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 85 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,023.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Spencer Adam Neumann sold 433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.19, for a total transaction of $271,140.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 45,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.16, for a total transaction of $31,981,986.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 85 shares in the company, valued at $60,023.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 224,784 shares of company stock worth $150,212,870. 1.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Netflix

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NFLX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Netflix by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,587,911 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $22,220,936,000 after buying an additional 149,341 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Netflix by 17.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,381,464 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $3,875,655,000 after acquiring an additional 929,193 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 2.3% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,762,069 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $3,213,825,000 after acquiring an additional 106,756 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,115,613 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $2,003,810,000 after acquiring an additional 72,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Netflix by 540.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,878,785 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,888,503,000 after purchasing an additional 3,273,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Netflix Company Profile

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.