Merrion Investment Management Co LLC Grows Stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Merrion Investment Management Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,060 shares of the Internet television network’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings in Netflix were worth $988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NFLX. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Netflix by 109,524.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,835,722 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $8,239,576,000 after purchasing an additional 8,827,662 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Netflix during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,019,087,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Netflix by 123,836.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,925,977 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,716,662,000 after buying an additional 1,924,423 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Netflix by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,301,098 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $2,051,016,000 after buying an additional 856,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Netflix by 318.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 976,924 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $870,752,000 after buying an additional 743,724 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NFLX. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,126.00 target price on shares of Netflix in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Netflix from $1,200.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,150.00 price objective (up from $1,100.00) on shares of Netflix in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,250.00 price target (up previously from $1,020.00) on shares of Netflix in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Netflix from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,156.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Netflix news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 25,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $921.15, for a total transaction of $23,360,364.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 394 shares in the company, valued at $362,933.10. This represents a 98.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jeffrey William Karbowski sold 480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $978.18, for a total value of $469,526.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 185,140 shares of company stock worth $210,271,552 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Netflix Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NFLX opened at $1,222.29 on Thursday. Netflix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $587.04 and a 52-week high of $1,262.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $520.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.76, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,138.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,006.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The Internet television network reported $6.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.74 by $0.87. Netflix had a return on equity of 39.61% and a net margin of 23.07%. The business had revenue of $10.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Netflix, Inc. will post 24.58 earnings per share 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.