Netflix’s (NFLX) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,150.00 price objective on the Internet television network’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.14% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on NFLX. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Netflix in a report on Monday, March 24th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Netflix from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Netflix from $850.00 to $960.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Netflix from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $680.00 to $1,494.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Netflix in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,017.31.

Netflix Stock Performance

NFLX traded up $12.73 on Friday, hitting $933.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 559,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,670,594. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $961.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $882.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Netflix has a 12 month low of $542.01 and a 12 month high of $1,064.50. The firm has a market cap of $399.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.55.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The Internet television network reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.20 by $0.07. Netflix had a return on equity of 38.32% and a net margin of 22.34%. The firm had revenue of $10.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Netflix will post 24.58 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 25,360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $921.15, for a total transaction of $23,360,364.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,933.10. This trade represents a 98.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ann Mather sold 2,682 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $973.00, for a total transaction of $2,609,586.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 274,312 shares of company stock worth $267,919,297. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NFLX. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Netflix by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 848,150 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $760,918,000 after buying an additional 156,958 shares in the last quarter. First National Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 1,258 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Haven Private LLC purchased a new position in shares of Netflix in the fourth quarter valued at $733,000. Sigma Planning Corp increased its position in Netflix by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 5,572 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $4,966,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Netflix by 4.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 41,946 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $29,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and games across various genres and languages. The company also provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, TV set-top boxes, and mobile devices.