NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

Separately, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of NETGEAR from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

NETGEAR Price Performance

Shares of NETGEAR stock opened at $23.90 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $689.97 million, a PE ratio of 59.75 and a beta of 0.72. NETGEAR has a 1-year low of $10.48 and a 1-year high of $31.55.

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.24). NETGEAR had a net margin of 1.83% and a negative return on equity of 9.24%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NETGEAR will post -1.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at NETGEAR

In related news, Director Thomas H. Waechter sold 2,000 shares of NETGEAR stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.42, for a total transaction of $60,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,859,726.70. The trade was a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles J. Prober sold 10,929 shares of NETGEAR stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total transaction of $291,148.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 507,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,526,806.32. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NETGEAR

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in NETGEAR by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,332,316 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,132,000 after acquiring an additional 44,752 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in NETGEAR by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 770,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,473,000 after acquiring an additional 184,863 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in NETGEAR by 126.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 675,209 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,818,000 after acquiring an additional 376,974 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in NETGEAR by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 506,756 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,123,000 after acquiring an additional 93,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NETGEAR by 47.7% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 406,119 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,319,000 after acquiring an additional 131,243 shares during the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About NETGEAR

NETGEAR, Inc provides connectivity solutions the Americas; Europe, the Middle East, Africa; and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Connected Home, and NETGEAR for Business. The Connected Home segment offers Wi-Fi routers and home Wi-Fi mesh systems, Wi-Fi hotspots, digital displays, broadband modems, Wi-Fi gateways, Wi-Fi range extenders, powerline adapters, and Wi-Fi network adapters; and provides value-added service offerings, including security and privacy, technical support, and parental controls.