Netflix’s (NFLX) “Sell” Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their sell rating on shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $440.00 price objective on the Internet television network’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on NFLX. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Netflix from $615.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Netflix from $460.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on Netflix from $585.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Netflix from $500.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Netflix from $570.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Netflix presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $614.75.

Netflix Stock Performance

NFLX stock opened at $610.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $264.23 billion, a PE ratio of 50.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $605.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $511.86. Netflix has a 1-year low of $315.62 and a 1-year high of $639.00.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Netflix news, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 20,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $610.42, for a total value of $12,553,897.72. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 28 shares in the company, valued at $17,091.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Gregory K. Peters sold 5,352 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $625.00, for a total value of $3,345,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Reed Hastings sold 20,566 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $610.42, for a total transaction of $12,553,897.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 28 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,091.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 268,335 shares of company stock valued at $151,619,811 over the last ninety days. 2.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Netflix

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NFLX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Netflix by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,438,570 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $17,741,211,000 after buying an additional 178,286 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 0.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,195,490 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $5,595,196,000 after acquiring an additional 62,507 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Netflix by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,744,636 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $5,718,265,000 after acquiring an additional 78,320 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Netflix by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,463,661 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,906,005,000 after acquiring an additional 644,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Netflix by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,452,271 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $2,654,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,978 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.