Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Netflix in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Netflix from $760.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Benchmark reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $545.00 target price on shares of Netflix in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $750.00 price target on shares of Netflix in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Netflix from $775.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Netflix presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $787.85.

Netflix Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ NFLX opened at $918.87 on Friday. Netflix has a 52 week low of $461.86 and a 52 week high of $941.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $814.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $719.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $392.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.00, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.27.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The Internet television network reported $5.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.09 by $0.31. Netflix had a net margin of 20.70% and a return on equity of 35.86%. The company had revenue of $9.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Netflix will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leslie J. Kilgore sold 428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $306,020.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 45,290 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.16, for a total transaction of $31,981,986.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 85 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,023.60. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 165,405 shares of company stock valued at $129,623,487. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Netflix

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NFLX. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Netflix during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Netflix by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,039 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $4,558,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Netflix by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 121 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Netflix by 5.9% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 715,796 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $483,076,000 after buying an additional 39,770 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Netflix during the second quarter worth $1,969,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Netflix Company Profile

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.