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

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of 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 daily volume of 438,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael Szabados sold 6,500 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $152,555.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 35,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,661.83. The trade was a 15.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $287,016.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 71,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,706,955.12. The trade was a 14.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,499 shares of company stock valued at $512,321. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetScout Systems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,929,551 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,975,000 after buying an additional 81,154 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 163,272 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after buying an additional 36,075 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,783,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetScout Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $940,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 224,935.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,056,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,736,000 after buying an additional 2,055,913 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NetScout Systems Price Performance

Shares of NetScout Systems stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, hitting $20.87. 37,277 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 507,713. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.56 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.88. NetScout Systems has a 1-year low of $17.10 and a 1-year high of $27.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. NetScout Systems had a positive return on equity of 6.76% and a negative net margin of 50.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetScout Systems will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on 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 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.