First Eagle Investment Management LLC Purchases 4,000 Shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,505 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetScout Systems were worth $5,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 4.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,929,551 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,975,000 after purchasing an additional 81,154 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in NetScout Systems by 28.4% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 163,272 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after acquiring an additional 36,075 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in NetScout Systems in the third quarter valued at $1,783,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetScout Systems in the third quarter valued at $940,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in NetScout Systems by 224,935.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,056,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055,913 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total transaction of $287,016.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 71,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,706,955.12. This represents a 14.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $152,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 35,989 shares in the company, valued at $844,661.83. This trade represents a 15.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,499 shares of company stock valued at $512,321 over the last 90 days. 3.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetScout Systems Price Performance

NetScout Systems stock opened at $20.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.54 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $22.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.88. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.10 and a 52 week high of $27.89.

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 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NTCT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on NetScout Systems from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

About NetScout Systems

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.