Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Shares Up 3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 3% during mid-day trading on Monday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating. The company traded as high as $1,019.00 and last traded at $1,001.79. 3,998,762 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 3,675,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $973.03.

NFLX has been the topic of several other reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $1,150.00 price target (up from $1,100.00) on shares of Netflix in a report on Friday, April 18th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Netflix from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Netflix in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $1,100.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Netflix from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Netflix in a report on Monday, March 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,072.12.

Insider Transactions at Netflix

In other news, CAO Jeffrey William Karbowski sold 160 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,000.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 25,360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $921.15, for a total transaction of $23,360,364.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $362,933.10. This represents a 98.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,855 shares of company stock valued at $267,474,816 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Netflix

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Netflix by 13.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,692,563 shares of the Internet television network's stock worth $1,200,485,000 after purchasing an additional 198,148 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in shares of Netflix by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 247 shares of the Internet television network's stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group raised its position in shares of Netflix by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 1,746 shares of the Internet television network's stock valued at $1,238,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Netflix by 356.5% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 13,879 shares of the Internet television network's stock worth $9,844,000 after acquiring an additional 10,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its position in Netflix by 1.2% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,515 shares of the Internet television network's stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company's stock.

Netflix Trading Up 0.4 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $954.61 and a 200 day moving average of $901.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $471.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.55, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.55.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The Internet television network reported $6.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.74 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $10.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.51 billion. Netflix had a return on equity of 38.32% and a net margin of 22.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Netflix, Inc. will post 24.58 EPS for the current year.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and games across various genres and languages. The company also provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, TV set-top boxes, and mobile devices.