Zacks Research Upgrades NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) to “Strong-Buy”

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NTCT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetScout Systems from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of NetScout Systems from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

NetScout Systems Stock Down 0.8%

NTCT stock opened at $38.04 on Wednesday. NetScout Systems has a 52-week low of $22.47 and a 52-week high of $45.28. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.16.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $210.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.17 million. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 13.71%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetScout Systems will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetScout Systems

In other NetScout Systems news, COO Sanjay Munshi sold 2,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $89,103.63. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,729 shares in the company, valued at $264,247.83. This represents a 25.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.41, for a total transaction of $307,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,809 shares in the company, valued at $4,909,143.69. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 18,269 shares of company stock valued at $718,704 over the last 90 days. 4.74% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetScout Systems

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in NetScout Systems by 62.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 147,138 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after buying an additional 56,359 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 16.8% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,258,576 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,811,000 after acquiring an additional 181,380 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems in the second quarter valued at $14,811,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in NetScout Systems in the second quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetScout Systems in the second quarter valued at $485,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc is a leading provider of network performance management, service assurance and cybersecurity solutions. The company designs and delivers hardware and software platforms that capture and analyze real-time and historical packet data, enabling IT teams and service providers to monitor application performance, troubleshoot network issues and defend against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. NetScout’s flagship offerings include the nGeniusONE service assurance platform and the InfiniStream packet broker, which together provide end-to-end visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, NetScout has built a reputation for scalable and resilient monitoring infrastructure.