NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $129.06 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $134.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday.

NetApp Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $122.34 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp has a 1-year low of $77.56 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.62%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 46.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after buying an additional 5,273 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in NetApp by 221.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,731,000 after buying an additional 207,968 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,301,000 after buying an additional 24,651 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in NetApp by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,585 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $810,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Company Profile

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.