NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) Short Interest Update

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, a growth of 37.2% from the February 13th total of 1,560,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 438,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total transaction of $152,555.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.25, for a total transaction of $72,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 130,352 shares in the company, valued at $3,161,036. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,499 shares of company stock worth $512,321. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTCT. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in NetScout Systems by 224,935.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,056,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,736,000 after buying an additional 2,055,913 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in NetScout Systems by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,118,267 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $89,202,000 after buying an additional 448,537 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in NetScout Systems by 137.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 388,286 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,410,000 after buying an additional 224,925 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetScout Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,480,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in NetScout Systems by 102.9% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 392,566 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,503,000 after buying an additional 199,079 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NetScout Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTCT traded up $0.32 on Monday, reaching $21.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 351,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 509,647. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.88. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.59 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.81. NetScout Systems has a 52-week low of $17.10 and a 52-week high of $27.89.

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

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.