Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Buys 69 Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 438 shares of the Internet television network’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Netflix were worth $213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its holdings in Netflix by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,446 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Netflix by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 480,044 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $179,820,000 after acquiring an additional 84,179 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Netflix by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,922 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in Netflix by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 36,336 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $13,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in Netflix by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,808 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NFLX shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Netflix from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Netflix from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Netflix from $510.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Netflix from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $460.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Macquarie upgraded shares of Netflix from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $410.00 to $595.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Netflix currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $583.18.

Netflix Price Performance

Shares of NFLX traded down $8.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $605.34. 2,375,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,530,214. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Netflix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $315.62 and a 52 week high of $634.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $579.15 and a 200-day moving average of $486.82. The stock has a market cap of $261.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.22.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The Internet television network reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by ($0.09). Netflix had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 24.76%. The business had revenue of $8.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Netflix, Inc. will post 17.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Netflix

In related news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 25,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.51, for a total value of $12,232,318.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Gregory K. Peters sold 5,352 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.00, for a total transaction of $3,345,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 25,998 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.51, for a total transaction of $12,232,318.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 273,767 shares of company stock valued at $151,298,232. Insiders own 2.45% of the company’s stock.

About Netflix

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.