Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on NFLX. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Netflix from $625.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Netflix from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $680.00 to $1,494.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised shares of Netflix from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $715.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Netflix from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Netflix from $758.00 to $797.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Netflix has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $996.94.

Netflix Stock Performance

NASDAQ NFLX traded up $30.87 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $984.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,742,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,807,119. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $420.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $889.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $763.41. Netflix has a 12 month low of $537.07 and a 12 month high of $999.00.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The Internet television network reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.20 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $10.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10,141,900 billion. Netflix had a net margin of 22.34% and a return on equity of 39.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Netflix will post 23.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard N. Barton sold 6,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $879.38, for a total transaction of $5,596,374.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 246 shares in the company, valued at $216,327.48. This trade represents a 96.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Theodore A. Sarandos sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.05, for a total value of $980,289.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,960,579.80. The trade was a 33.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 152,198 shares of company stock valued at $127,616,898. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Netflix

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NFLX. Custom Index Systems LLC grew its stake in shares of Netflix by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Netflix in the 4th quarter valued at about $446,000. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Netflix by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 834 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $743,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Netflix by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 17,745 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $15,817,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Netflix by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,754 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.