Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Stock

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $22.00 to $25.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.44% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

NetScout Systems Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTCT traded down $1.12 on Friday, hitting $23.94. 323,209 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,462. NetScout Systems has a 52 week low of $17.10 and a 52 week high of $27.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.09. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 0.58.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. NetScout Systems had a positive return on equity of 5.31% and a negative net margin of 76.14%. As a group, research analysts expect that NetScout Systems will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTCT. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $287,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $966,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,501,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 375.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,100,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,128,000 after purchasing an additional 868,955 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 34,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetScout Systems Company 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.