Citigroup Inc. Sells 40,726 Shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Key Points

• Major investor Citigroup sold 40,726 shares of NetScout, cutting its stake by 30.5% to 92,997 shares (about 0.13% of the company, ~$2.4M), even as other institutions (Hillsdale, Jupiter, JPMorgan) materially increased positions, leaving institutional ownership at 91.64%.
• NetScout beat quarterly estimates with $1.00 EPS vs. $0.86 expected and $250.7M revenue, issued FY2026 guidance of 2.370–2.450 EPS, and trades near $29.80 with a $2.15B market cap and an average analyst price target of $31 (Moderate Buy).
• Insiders have been trimming holdings—Director Christopher Perretta sold 10,000 shares and EVP John Downing sold 3,000—leaving insiders owning 3.82% of the stock.

Citigroup Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT - Free Report) by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,997 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 40,726 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.13% of NetScout Systems worth $2,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 281,695 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,276,000 after purchasing an additional 123,700 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in NetScout Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $1,921,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in NetScout Systems by 572.3% in the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 377,347 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,747,000 after purchasing an additional 321,218 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in NetScout Systems in the third quarter worth $5,109,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in NetScout Systems by 65.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 343,551 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,874,000 after buying an additional 136,377 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetScout Systems Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NetScout Systems stock opened at $29.80 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $28.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.01. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.12 and a 12-month high of $30.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92 and a beta of 0.63.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The technology company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $250.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $233.69 million. NetScout Systems had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.370-2.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on NetScout Systems from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen raised NetScout Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of NetScout Systems in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.00.

Insider Transactions at NetScout Systems

In other NetScout Systems news, Director Christopher Perretta sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total transaction of $280,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 40,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,144,656.66. This represents a 19.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John Downing sold 3,000 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $90,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 129,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,884,820. This represents a 2.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetScout Systems Company Profile

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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