StockNews.com upgraded shares of National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

NATI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on National Instruments from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on National Instruments from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $44.80.

National Instruments Price Performance

National Instruments stock opened at $39.35 on Thursday. National Instruments has a 12 month low of $29.81 and a 12 month high of $45.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.49 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 50.45 and a beta of 1.13.

National Instruments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 5th. National Instruments's payout ratio is currently 143.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other National Instruments news, EVP Jason Elliot Green sold 5,000 shares of National Instruments stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.59, for a total transaction of $192,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 86,908 shares in the company, valued at $3,353,779.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Jason Elliot Green sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.59, for a total value of $192,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 86,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,353,779.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Eric Howard Starkloff sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 15th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,900 shares of company stock worth $438,050. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On National Instruments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Amundi increased its position in National Instruments by 77.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,793,764 shares of the technology company's stock worth $150,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087,386 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in National Instruments by 97.2% during the second quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 25,675 shares of the technology company's stock worth $802,000 after buying an additional 12,654 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in National Instruments by 19.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,604 shares of the technology company's stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 3,067 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in National Instruments by 14.2% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 615,548 shares of the technology company's stock worth $19,223,000 after buying an additional 76,374 shares during the period. Finally, Centiva Capital LP grew its stake in National Instruments by 126.3% during the second quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 14,840 shares of the technology company's stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 8,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.25% of the company's stock.

National Instruments Company Profile

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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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