Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Stock

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $1,050.00 to $1,150.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the Internet television network’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Netflix from $775.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Netflix from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $680.00 to $1,494.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price target on Netflix from $800.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Netflix from $590.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price target on Netflix from $965.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,009.29.

Netflix Stock Down 0.7 %

NFLX stock opened at $977.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $417.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.30, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.27. Netflix has a fifty-two week low of $542.01 and a fifty-two week high of $999.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $892.06 and a 200-day moving average of $764.95.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The Internet television network reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.20 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $10.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10,141,900 billion. Netflix had a return on equity of 38.32% and a net margin of 22.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Netflix will post 23.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard N. Barton sold 6,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $879.38, for a total value of $5,596,374.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 246 shares in the company, valued at $216,327.48. This trade represents a 96.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $979.71, for a total value of $604,481.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,117 shares of company stock worth $123,913,691 in the last quarter. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NFLX. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its stake in Netflix by 35.5% during the second quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 36,063 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $24,338,000 after buying an additional 9,451 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Netflix by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 848,150 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $760,918,000 after buying an additional 156,958 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Netflix by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,579,404 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $1,829,494,000 after buying an additional 29,726 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Netflix by 2.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 612,458 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $434,398,000 after buying an additional 11,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Netflix by 4.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 41,946 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $29,751,000 after buying an additional 1,684 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

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.