Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Sunday.

NFLX has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Netflix from $650.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Netflix from $700.00 to $780.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Netflix from $650.00 to $659.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Macquarie reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $685.00 price objective on shares of Netflix in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Netflix from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Netflix currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $685.29.

Netflix Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ NFLX opened at $690.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Netflix has a 52-week low of $344.73 and a 52-week high of $711.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $660.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $639.51. The stock has a market cap of $297.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.26.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The Internet television network reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.74 by $0.14. Netflix had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 32.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Netflix will post 19.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 22,526 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $670.49, for a total value of $15,103,457.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 57 shares in the company, valued at $38,217.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Gregory K. Peters sold 1,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.44, for a total value of $785,254.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,090 shares in the company, valued at $8,043,019.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 22,526 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $670.49, for a total transaction of $15,103,457.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 57 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,217.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 196,798 shares of company stock worth $129,552,672 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Netflix

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NFLX. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in Netflix by 231.5% during the second quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 5,805 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $3,918,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Netflix by 3.2% during the second quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,931 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $2,653,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Netflix during the second quarter worth about $47,894,000. NCP Inc. increased its holdings in Netflix by 5.4% during the second quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 10,491 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $7,080,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Netflix during the second quarter worth about $1,201,000. 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.