Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $725.00 price objective on the Internet television network’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NFLX. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Netflix from $615.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Netflix from $490.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Netflix from $580.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Netflix from $570.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Netflix from $555.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $628.76.

Netflix Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NFLX traded down $35.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $574.65. The stock had a trading volume of 5,598,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,296,902. Netflix has a twelve month low of $315.62 and a twelve month high of $639.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $248.69 billion, a PE ratio of 47.41, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $605.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.86.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The Internet television network reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.51 by $0.77. Netflix had a net margin of 16.04% and a return on equity of 24.76%. The company had revenue of $9.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Netflix will post 17.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 47,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.50, for a total value of $25,873,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 431,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,284,217. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 47,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.50, for a total transaction of $25,873,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 431,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,284,217. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 20,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.42, for a total transaction of $12,553,897.72. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 28 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,091.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 268,335 shares of company stock valued at $151,619,811. Insiders own 2.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its position in shares of Netflix by 26.5% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,446 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $916,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Netflix by 21.3% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 480,044 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $179,820,000 after buying an additional 84,179 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Netflix by 14.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,922 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its stake in shares of Netflix by 6.9% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 36,336 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $13,610,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Netflix by 13.1% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,808 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.