Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 46,782 Shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. $NTCT

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCT) by 8.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 585,039 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,782 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.81% of NetScout Systems worth $18,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTCT. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in NetScout Systems by 93.6% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,559,192 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,192,000 after purchasing an additional 753,842 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,519,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,184,000 after buying an additional 729,632 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetScout Systems by 1,361.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 747,824 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,316,000 after buying an additional 696,643 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of NetScout Systems in the third quarter worth $16,091,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,288,036 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,914,000 after acquiring an additional 588,022 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

NetScout Systems Stock Performance

NTCT stock opened at $38.93 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.80. NetScout Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.39 and a fifty-two week high of $45.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.95 and a beta of 0.68.

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) last released its quarterly 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. NetScout Systems had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The company had revenue of $203.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. NetScout Systems’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. NetScout Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.650-2.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetScout Systems, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alfred Grasso sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,450. This represents a 12.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 129,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,202,285.09. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. 3.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.