Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 27,513 Shares of NETGEAR, Inc. $NTGR

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR) by 118.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 50,646 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,513 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NETGEAR were worth $1,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NTGR. Pertento Partners LLP lifted its position in NETGEAR by 6.0% in the second quarter. Pertento Partners LLP now owns 1,691,607 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $49,175,000 after purchasing an additional 95,955 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in NETGEAR by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,079,096 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,354,000 after buying an additional 3,114 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in NETGEAR by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 910,212 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,460,000 after buying an additional 35,873 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in NETGEAR by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 690,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $20,087,000 after acquiring an additional 63,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tenzing Global Management LLC increased its position in shares of NETGEAR by 4.3% in the second quarter. Tenzing Global Management LLC now owns 600,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,442,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTGR shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of NETGEAR from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on NETGEAR from $29.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of NETGEAR in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut NETGEAR from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on NETGEAR in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Pramod Badjate sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.97, for a total transaction of $62,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 144,586 shares in the company, valued at $3,031,968.42. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NETGEAR Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NTGR stock opened at $21.26 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.62. The stock has a market cap of $603.78 million, a PE ratio of -34.29 and a beta of 1.15. NETGEAR, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.75 and a 12 month high of $36.86.

NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.21. NETGEAR had a negative net margin of 2.56% and a negative return on equity of 2.40%. The business had revenue of $182.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.06) earnings per share. NETGEAR’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NETGEAR, Inc. will post -1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.