Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Stock Price Up 0.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s stock price rose 0.6% during trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $800.00 to $1,000.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Netflix traded as high as $894.77 and last traded at $888.84. Approximately 1,239,057 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 3,653,134 shares. The stock had previously closed at $883.85.

NFLX has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Netflix from $820.00 to $835.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Netflix from $775.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Netflix from $925.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $750.00 price target on Netflix in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Netflix from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Netflix currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $764.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 43,750 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $687.07, for a total transaction of $30,059,312.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,040 shares in the company, valued at $65,299,132.80. The trade was a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 45,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,023.60. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 185,866 shares of company stock worth $133,393,921. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Netflix

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Netflix by 116,620.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,753,129 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $4,080,522,000 after purchasing an additional 5,748,200 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Netflix by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,058,431 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $750,713,000 after purchasing an additional 642,920 shares during the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Netflix during the 1st quarter worth about $372,293,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Netflix by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,951,347 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $12,023,082,000 after acquiring an additional 426,740 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Netflix in the 1st quarter valued at about $216,538,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Netflix Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $751.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $688.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $383.03 billion, a PE ratio of 50.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The Internet television network reported $5.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.09 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $9.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. Netflix had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 35.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Netflix, Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.