New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $519,000 Stake in NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,968 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 792 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in NetScout Systems were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTCT. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 3.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in NetScout Systems by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 43,148 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in NetScout Systems by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 323,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 18,244 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,498 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,971 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 7,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $152,555.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $287,016.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,706,955.12. This represents a 14.39 % 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. Insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on NetScout Systems from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

NetScout Systems Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NTCT stock opened at $21.55 on Wednesday. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.10 and a twelve month high of $27.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.68 and a beta of 0.60.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. NetScout Systems had a positive return on equity of 6.76% and a negative net margin of 50.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetScout Systems 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.