CommVault Systems (NASDAQ:CVLT) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Key Points

• CommVault Systems' stock price opened at $177.07 after previously closing at $163.43, closing at $183.85 on the same day, indicating strong market interest.
• Analysts have mixed views on CommVault, with seven analysts rating it as a buy and three as a hold, as the company's average target price is set at $189.13.
• Despite a recent dip in quarterly earnings, CommVault has seen significant insider selling, with notable trades announced in May that reduced insider ownership to around 1% of total shares.

CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $163.43, but opened at $177.07. CommVault Systems shares last traded at $183.85, with a volume of 103,737 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CVLT. KeyCorp lifted their target price on CommVault Systems from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CommVault Systems from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CommVault Systems from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim set a $220.00 price objective on CommVault Systems in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on CommVault Systems from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.63.

CommVault Systems Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of 101.48 and a beta of 0.73.

CommVault Systems (NASDAQ:CVLT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The software maker reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $275.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $262.52 million. CommVault Systems had a return on equity of 30.83% and a net margin of 7.70%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that CommVault Systems, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CommVault Systems

In other CommVault Systems news, CEO Sanjay Mirchandani sold 1,709 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $299,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 469,648 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,188,400. This trade represents a 0.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gary Merrill sold 1,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.91, for a total value of $305,742.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 89,923 shares in the company, valued at $15,728,431.93. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CommVault Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CommVault Systems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,909,185 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $288,115,000 after purchasing an additional 24,900 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CommVault Systems by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,777,307 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $280,388,000 after purchasing an additional 117,199 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CommVault Systems by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,505,357 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $237,454,000 after purchasing an additional 43,075 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CommVault Systems by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,288,068 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $194,681,000 after purchasing an additional 43,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CommVault Systems during the 1st quarter valued at $116,223,000. Institutional investors own 93.50% of the company's stock.

CommVault Systems Company Profile

Commvault Systems, Inc provides data protection platform that helps customers to secure, defend, and recover their data in the United States and internationally. The company offers Commvault Backup and Recovery, a backup and recovery solution; Commvault Disaster Recovery, a replication and disaster recovery solution; Commvault Complete Data Protection, a data protection solution; and Metallic Data Protection as-a-service, which delivers enterprise-grade data protection as a service on a cloud platform, with advanced built-in security controls.