Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Position in NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 22.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 401,707 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,775 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NetScout Systems were worth $12,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 8,441.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 38,096 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 37,650 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 28.5% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 90,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,880,000 after buying an additional 20,111 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetScout Systems in the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in NetScout Systems by 10.3% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 69,208 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetScout Systems

In related news, Director Alfred Grasso sold 5,000 shares of NetScout Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.67, for a total transaction of $203,350.00. Following the sale, the director owned 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,450. The trade was a 12.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.29, for a total transaction of $322,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 129,121 shares in the company, valued at $5,202,285.09. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Company insiders own 3.82% of the company’s stock.

NetScout Systems Stock Up 1.4%

NetScout Systems stock opened at $40.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.49. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.39 and a 52 week high of $45.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77 and a beta of 0.68.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $203.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.64 million. NetScout Systems had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NetScout Systems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised NetScout Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of NetScout Systems from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded NetScout Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

NetScout Systems 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.