Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Shares Up 1% on Analyst Upgrade

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares shot up 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Vetr upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a sell rating. Vetr now has a $163.64 price target on the stock. Netflix traded as high as $185.00 and last traded at $185.45, with a volume of 12,030,140 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $183.60.

Several other brokerages have also commented on NFLX. MKM Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Netflix from $195.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Netflix from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Netflix in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Netflix from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Netflix from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.36.

In related news, insider Neil D. Hunt sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.91, for a total transaction of $1,519,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 462,460 shares in the company, valued at $70,252,298.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Neil D. Hunt sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.55, for a total value of $3,913,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,435 shares in the company, valued at $73,803,149.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 433,801 shares of company stock valued at $71,702,221. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Netflix by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,161,082 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $4,014,680,000 after buying an additional 921,283 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Netflix by 6.6% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,027,506 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $3,108,076,000 after buying an additional 1,305,294 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Netflix by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,535,737 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $2,591,946,000 after buying an additional 463,143 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Netflix by 21.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,947,211 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $1,913,727,000 after buying an additional 2,279,835 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Netflix by 3.2% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,593,097 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $1,122,336,000 after buying an additional 234,664 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.82% of the company’s stock.

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $161.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.70. The stock has a market cap of $79.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 223.89 and a beta of 0.98.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 17th. The Internet television network reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Netflix had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 32.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Netflix, Inc. will post $1.17 EPS for the current year.

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About Netflix

Netflix, Inc is a provider an Internet television network. The Company operates through three segments: Domestic streaming, International streaming and Domestic DVD. The Domestic streaming segment includes services that streams content to its members in the United States. The International streaming segment includes services that streams content to its members outside the United States.