NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the four research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.00.

Several equities analysts have commented on NTGR shares. Zacks Research upgraded NETGEAR from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of NETGEAR in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded NETGEAR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th.

NETGEAR Trading Down 4.2%

NETGEAR stock opened at $24.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $648.19 million, a PE ratio of -27.44 and a beta of 1.17. NETGEAR has a 12 month low of $19.00 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.61.

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $158.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.49 million. NETGEAR had a negative return on equity of 2.71% and a negative net margin of 3.58%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that NETGEAR will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Pramod Badjate sold 3,000 shares of NETGEAR stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.47, for a total value of $76,410.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,215,616.11. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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. Also, Director Shravan Goli sold 3,381 shares of NETGEAR stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.89, for a total value of $90,915.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $695,294.73. This represents a 11.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 12,085 shares of company stock valued at $318,703 over the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NETGEAR

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTGR. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 99.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 48,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,179,000 after acquiring an additional 23,993 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 15.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 279,874 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,846,000 after acquiring an additional 37,469 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 13.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 74,146 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,021 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 5.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 34,690 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of NETGEAR by 2.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 51,678 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NETGEAR Company Profile

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.