Zacks: Analysts Expect National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI) Will Post Earnings of $0.34 Per Share

Wall Street analysts expect that National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) will report earnings of $0.34 per share for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Two analysts have issued estimates for National Instruments’ earnings. The highest EPS estimate is $0.34 and the lowest is $0.33. National Instruments reported earnings per share of $0.35 in the same quarter last year, which suggests a negative year-over-year growth rate of 2.9%. The company is expected to report its next earnings report on Monday, January 1st.

Zacks Investment Research’s EPS calculations are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow National Instruments.

National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.03). National Instruments had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business had revenue of $385.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $402.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. National Instruments’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of National Instruments in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of National Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 5th. TheStreet lowered shares of National Instruments from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Susquehanna raised shares of National Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, January 28th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares raised shares of National Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, January 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, National Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.33.

In other news, CFO Karen Marie Rapp sold 3,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.75, for a total transaction of $135,587.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Arthur Rust sold 4,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $177,844.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 48,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,766,956.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,898 shares of company stock worth $1,237,387 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in National Instruments by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,218,802 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $489,925,000 after acquiring an additional 190,648 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in National Instruments by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,990,150 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,913,000 after acquiring an additional 106,198 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in National Instruments by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,879,023 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $198,040,000 after acquiring an additional 487,646 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in National Instruments by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,584,549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $145,497,000 after acquiring an additional 141,867 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its stake in National Instruments by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 3,346,719 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $135,843,000 after acquiring an additional 80,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.79% of the company’s stock.

NATI opened at $33.29 on Friday. National Instruments has a twelve month low of $31.39 and a twelve month high of $45.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.97 and a 200-day moving average of $40.52. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 40.60 and a beta of 1.09.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 9th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 6th. This is an increase from National Instruments’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. National Instruments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 136.59%.

National Instruments Company Profile (Get Rating)

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.

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