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

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) saw a significant growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average trading volume of 438,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,706,955.12. The trade was a 14.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total transaction of $152,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 35,989 shares in the company, valued at $844,661.83. This represents a 15.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,499 shares of company stock worth $512,321. Corporate insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTCT. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in NetScout Systems by 1,214.4% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,367 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its position in NetScout Systems by 316.8% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in NetScout Systems by 32.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in NetScout Systems by 811.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in NetScout Systems by 52.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

NetScout Systems Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTCT traded up $0.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $21.05. 351,570 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 509,647. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.88. NetScout Systems has a 52-week low of $17.10 and a 52-week high of $27.89. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.59 and a beta of 0.64.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that NetScout Systems will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.