Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 74,775 Shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in NetScout Systems by 22.9% in the first quarter, buying 74,775 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 401,707 shares worth about $12.77 million.
• NetScout reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.52 versus the $0.46 consensus and revenue of $203.03 million versus expectations of $198.64 million, though revenue was still down 1% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but constructive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus with a $35.50 price target, while recent insider sales by a director and an EVP added to recent trading activity.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT - Free Report) by 22.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 401,707 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 74,775 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.56% of NetScout Systems worth $12,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTCT. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in 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 period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in NetScout Systems by 92.8% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of NetScout Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetScout Systems in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 1,936.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetScout Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTCT opened at $40.00 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $41.29 and its 200 day moving average is $34.49. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.39 and a fifty-two week high of $45.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77 and a beta of 0.68.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.06. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 11.11%.The business had revenue of $203.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $198.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on NTCT shares. Wall Street Zen raised NetScout Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of NetScout Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NetScout Systems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetScout Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.50.

Insider Activity at NetScout Systems

In related news, Director Alfred Grasso sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.67, for a total value of $203,350.00. Following the sale, the director owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,450. The trade was a 12.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.29, for a total value of $322,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 129,121 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,202,285.09. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 3.82% of the company's stock.

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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