Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings unloaded 12,977 shares on the open market in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. Hastings sold his stocks at an average price of $438.05, for a total transaction of $5,684,574.85, according to a filing with SEC.
Other recent insider selling for Netflix
Netflix Director Richard N. Barton unloaded 5,000 shares of the company stock in a transaction that ended on Wednesday, June 18th. Barton sold the shares at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $2,250,000.00.
Netflix and few other tech stocks lost more than 23% of their value in March and April, but in last 30 days the streaming company has gained around 21%, making it the second biggest gainer in the NASDAQ 100.
Number of analysts has assigned rating to the Netflix stock recently. Barclays analysts started coverage on share and assigned Underweight rating to the stock in a report released on Thursday. They have set the price target of $420 on the stock. Separately, Morgan Stanley analysts have assigned Overweight rating to the stock with a price target of $500.00 in a research note to the investors on Tuesday June 17th. Evercore Partners raised the rating assigning Equalweight to the stock and a price target of $500.00, in a research note to the investors on Monday, June 9th. Overall, Netflix has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $397.09.
Many catalysts going forward
Analysts at Morgan Stanley stated in a report that the international expansion by the company will drive the growth ahead and the streaming company could probably grab 20% of the 280 million international households with the broadband access by 2020. Netflix has already gained substantially in Canada, the U.K. and Nordic regions.
Netflix has made the mark among the consumers by enabling them to stream content to mobile phones and tablets. The streaming company already boasts of more subscribers than the competitors like Time Warner, HBO, Amazon.com. The subscriber base will further expand and more consumers will watch content on WI-FI enabled devices.
Morgan Stanley analysts expect that the stock would touch $700 if the company can successfully balance its investment in the original content. Downward pressure may pull the stock if international expansion fizzles out and subscriber growth narrows.
