NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $120.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on NTAP. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $122.67.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $131.91 on Monday. NetApp has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $127.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.33.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 17.5% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,517,000 after acquiring an additional 416,233 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,502,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in NetApp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $309,811,000 after purchasing an additional 82,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.