Shares of National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $49.00 to $44.00. The stock had previously closed at $39.89, but opened at $35.61. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. National Instruments shares last traded at $36.36, with a volume of 8,185 shares changing hands.
Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group started coverage on National Instruments in a report on Thursday, October 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on National Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on National Instruments in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on National Instruments from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.00.
Insider Activity at National Instruments
In related news, EVP Jason Elliot Green sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total transaction of $207,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,403,078.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Eric Howard Starkloff sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $37,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,065,676. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jason Elliot Green sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total value of $207,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,403,078.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,900 shares of company stock valued at $438,050 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of National Instruments by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,460 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of National Instruments by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,499,181 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,579,000 after acquiring an additional 63,477 shares in the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of National Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Riverbridge Partners LLC raised its position in shares of National Instruments by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 2,014,310 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,020,000 after acquiring an additional 159,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of National Instruments by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. 83.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
National Instruments Stock Performance
The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.23 and a beta of 1.09.
National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The technology company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. National Instruments had a return on equity of 15.63% and a net margin of 6.71%. The firm had revenue of $395.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.98 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that National Instruments Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.
About National Instruments
National Instruments Corporation provides a software-centric platform and systems to engineers and scientists worldwide. Its programming environments software includes NI LabVIEW, a graphical software platform to visualize hardware configuration, measurement data, and debugging of application; NI LabWindows/CVI, an ANSI C integrated development environment and engineering toolbox; and NI Measurement Studio, a suite of .NET tools for building engineering applications in Microsoft Visual Studio.