Reinhart Partners Inc. lessened its stake in National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 458,471 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 25,296 shares during the quarter. Reinhart Partners Inc. owned about 0.35% of National Instruments worth $17,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund boosted its holdings in shares of National Instruments by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 95,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of National Instruments by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 24,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $915,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of National Instruments by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,801 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of National Instruments by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,372 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.87% of the company’s stock.
Insider Transactions at National Instruments
In other news, CEO Eric Howard Starkloff sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $37,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 285,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,994,276. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Eric Howard Starkloff sold 900 shares of National Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $37,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 285,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,994,276. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Ritu Favre sold 1,437 shares of National Instruments stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.18, for a total transaction of $54,864.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 38,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,468,593.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,137 shares of company stock valued at $124,665. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.
National Instruments Stock Up 16.0 %
National Instruments stock traded up $6.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.61. 117,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 730,122. National Instruments Co. has a 1 year low of $29.81 and a 1 year high of $43.12. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.00 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.16.
National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $427.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $426.71 million. National Instruments had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 16.91%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that National Instruments Co. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
National Instruments Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 7th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 4th. National Instruments’s payout ratio is currently 106.67%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of National Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of National Instruments from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of National Instruments in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of National Instruments in a report on Thursday, October 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of National Instruments from $49.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.86.
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.