Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,916 shares of the Internet television network’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Netflix were worth $11,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 7.4% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 68,460 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $48,557,000 after buying an additional 4,701 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 1.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 465,208 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $329,958,000 after buying an additional 8,024 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 17.0% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 634 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Busey Bank boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 3.7% during the third quarter. Busey Bank now owns 794 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 1.5% during the third quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 2,069 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on NFLX shares. Barclays upgraded Netflix from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $715.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Macquarie boosted their price target on Netflix from $965.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Netflix from $1,000.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Netflix from $725.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,175.00 price target (up previously from $1,000.00) on shares of Netflix in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Netflix has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,021.70.

Netflix Price Performance

Shares of NFLX opened at $1,003.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $429.10 billion, a PE ratio of 50.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Netflix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $542.01 and a 1-year high of $1,064.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $940.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $819.90.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The Internet television network reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.20 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $10.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Netflix had a net margin of 22.34% and a return on equity of 38.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Netflix, Inc. will post 24.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Netflix news, CAO Jeffrey William Karbowski sold 160 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,000.00, for a total value of $160,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory K. Peters sold 102,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.74, for a total transaction of $100,259,088.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,700,583. The trade was a 88.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 303,220 shares of company stock valued at $289,856,164 over the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Netflix Company Profile

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.