Scott Arthur Rust Sells 29,821 Shares of National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI) Stock

National Instruments Co. (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) EVP Scott Arthur Rust sold 29,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.98, for a total value of $1,729,021.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,118,183.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

National Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NATI stock opened at $57.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $55.19 and its 200-day moving average is $48.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 47.92 and a beta of 1.20. National Instruments Co. has a 52 week low of $29.81 and a 52 week high of $58.30.

National Instruments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 8th. National Instruments’s payout ratio is presently 92.56%.

Institutional Trading of National Instruments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NATI. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of National Instruments by 219.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,247,853 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,846,000 after purchasing an additional 2,231,458 shares during the last quarter. Segantii Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of National Instruments during the first quarter worth $92,766,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of National Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $38,111,000. Nekton Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of National Instruments during the first quarter valued at $48,868,000. Finally, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of National Instruments during the first quarter valued at $40,639,000. Institutional investors own 90.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NATI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of National Instruments in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on National Instruments in a research report on Saturday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Susquehanna cut National Instruments from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Robert W. Baird cut National Instruments from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut National Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.57.

About National Instruments

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National Instruments Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of systems to engineers and scientists that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery. The firm’s products include Labview, TestStand, FlexLogger, Voltage, Temperature, Software Defined Radios, Power Accessories, and Repair Services.