NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

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

NETGEAR Stock Down 2.3 %

NTGR stock opened at $23.63 on Friday. NETGEAR has a twelve month low of $10.48 and a twelve month high of $31.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $682.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.08 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.14.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Murray Bryan sold 3,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $92,044.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,617,325.44. This represents a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles J. Prober sold 10,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NETGEAR

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,332,316 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $37,132,000 after acquiring an additional 44,752 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 770,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $21,473,000 after acquiring an additional 184,863 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 126.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 675,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,818,000 after acquiring an additional 376,974 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 506,756 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,123,000 after acquiring an additional 93,737 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 406,119 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,319,000 after acquiring an additional 131,243 shares during the period. 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.