BlackRock Inc. Acquires New Position in NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 11.4 million NetScout shares valued at approximately $498 million, giving it a 15.73% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 91.64% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment has improved, with recent upgrades to “strong buy.” NetScout has an overall “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $35.50.
• NetScout exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.52 EPS versus $0.38 expected and revenue of $210.42 million, up 12.7% year over year. However, shares recently traded down 1.8% to $37.81, while insiders sold $718,704 of stock during the last quarter.

BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,435,751 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $498,027,000. BlackRock Inc. owned 15.73% of NetScout Systems as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 147.2% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,011 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 92.8% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in NetScout Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in NetScout Systems during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in NetScout Systems by 1,936.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTCT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded NetScout Systems from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of NetScout Systems from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.41, for a total value of $307,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 127,809 shares in the company, valued at $4,909,143.69. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Sanjay Munshi sold 2,269 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $264,247.83. This trade represents a 25.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 18,269 shares of company stock worth $718,704 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.74% of the company's stock.

NetScout Systems Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NTCT opened at $37.81 on Tuesday. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.14 and a 12-month high of $45.28. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.30.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 13.71%.The firm had revenue of $210.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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