StockNews.com Upgrades NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) to “Buy”

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of NETGEAR from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

NETGEAR Stock Performance

Shares of NTGR opened at $23.90 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $26.73 and its 200 day moving average is $23.87. NETGEAR has a fifty-two week low of $10.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $689.97 million, a PE ratio of 59.75 and a beta of 0.72.

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.24). NETGEAR had a net margin of 1.83% and a negative return on equity of 9.24%. As a group, research analysts forecast that NETGEAR will post -1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles J. Prober sold 10,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total transaction of $291,148.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 507,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,526,806.32. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas H. Waechter sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.42, for a total transaction of $60,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 61,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,859,726.70. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NETGEAR

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTGR. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 66.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of NETGEAR during the fourth quarter valued at $72,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of NETGEAR during the fourth quarter valued at $72,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NETGEAR by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,917 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NETGEAR in the third quarter valued at about $91,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NETGEAR

NETGEAR, Inc provides connectivity solutions the Americas; Europe, the Middle East, Africa; and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Connected Home, and NETGEAR for Business. The Connected Home segment offers Wi-Fi routers and home Wi-Fi mesh systems, Wi-Fi hotspots, digital displays, broadband modems, Wi-Fi gateways, Wi-Fi range extenders, powerline adapters, and Wi-Fi network adapters; and provides value-added service offerings, including security and privacy, technical support, and parental controls.