Netskope (NASDAQ:NTSK) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders bought 7,246 Netskope call options, approximately 75% above the average daily volume, signaling increased bullish options interest.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: Netskope has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $19.32 target price, with several firms recently raising targets to $20.
• Shares gained while insiders accumulated: The stock rose to $19.68, and insiders bought substantially more shares than they sold over the past three months, while institutional investors also increased positions.

Netskope Inc. (NASDAQ:NTSK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 7,246 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 75% compared to the average daily volume of 4,152 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTSK has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Netskope from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Mizuho set a $16.00 price target on shares of Netskope in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Netskope from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Netskope in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Netskope from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $19.32.

Netskope Price Performance

Shares of NTSK traded up $1.26 on Tuesday, reaching $19.68. The stock had a trading volume of 3,770,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,944,024. Netskope has a twelve month low of $7.66 and a twelve month high of $24.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion and a PE ratio of -7.72. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.42 and a 200 day moving average of $12.23.

Netskope (NASDAQ:NTSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.23. Netskope had a negative return on equity of 83.84% and a negative net margin of 91.84%.The business had revenue of $220.54 million for the quarter. Netskope has set its FY 2027 guidance at -0.150--0.150 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at -0.040--0.030 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Netskope will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Netskope news, major shareholder Lightspeed Venture Partners Se sold 10,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.90, for a total transaction of $158,252.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William J.G. Griffith purchased 64,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.42 per share, for a total transaction of $804,455.82. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 916,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,385,289.80. The trade was a 7.60% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,833,380 shares of company stock valued at $21,960,909 and sold 240,317 shares valued at $2,961,806. 25.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Netskope

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Netskope during the second quarter valued at about $25,107,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Netskope by 31.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,547,468 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,628,000 after acquiring an additional 608,355 shares during the period. New York Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Netskope during the 2nd quarter worth about $11,325,580. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Netskope in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,027,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Netskope by 1,381.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 475,918 shares of the company's stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 443,800 shares in the last quarter.

Netskope Company Profile

Netskope, Inc is a cloud security company that provides technology for protecting data, users, applications and networks in modern digital environments. Its platform is designed to help organizations secure access to cloud services, web applications, private applications and other internet-connected resources while supporting distributed workforces and hybrid IT infrastructures.

The company's products include cloud access security broker (CASB) capabilities, secure web gateway services, zero trust network access, data loss prevention, cloud firewall functionality and security analytics.

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