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

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, an increase of 37.2% from the February 13th total of 1,560,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 438,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetScout Systems news, EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.25, for a total transaction of $72,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 130,352 shares in the company, valued at $3,161,036. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jean A. Bua sold 11,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.92, for a total value of $287,016.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 71,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,706,955.12. This represents a 14.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,499 shares of company stock worth $512,321 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetScout Systems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in NetScout Systems by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in NetScout Systems by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in NetScout Systems by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 28,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its position in NetScout Systems by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 13,307 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in NetScout Systems by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 23,968 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetScout Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NTCT stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.87. 37,277 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 507,713. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.74 and its 200-day moving average is $21.88. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.56 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. NetScout Systems has a fifty-two week low of $17.10 and a fifty-two week high of $27.89.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that NetScout Systems will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTCT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on NetScout Systems from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research 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.