NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of NETGEAR in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NETGEAR presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.50.

NETGEAR Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTGR opened at $21.16 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.37. NETGEAR has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $36.86. The company has a market capitalization of $575.13 million, a PE ratio of -22.75 and a beta of 1.20.

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. NETGEAR had a negative net margin of 3.71% and a negative return on equity of 2.79%. The company had revenue of $168.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that NETGEAR will post -0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NETGEAR news, insider Pramod Badjate sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.88, for a total transaction of $71,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 154,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,679,263.24. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in NETGEAR by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,091 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in NETGEAR by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,699 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of NETGEAR by 6.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,996 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of NETGEAR by 35.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NETGEAR in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

About NETGEAR

NETGEAR, Inc (NASDAQ: NTGR) is a global provider of networking solutions for consumer, business and service provider markets. The company designs, develops and markets a comprehensive portfolio of products that enable high-speed connectivity, data storage and network security for homes, small to medium-sized businesses and large enterprises.

Its product lineup includes Wi-Fi routers, mesh networking systems, cable modems, mobile broadband gateways and Ethernet switches—offered in both managed and unmanaged configurations.