NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $100.60.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Argus upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 14,650.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in NetApp in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $102.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $100.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.64. The company has a market cap of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. NetApp has a 12-month low of $61.54 and a 12-month high of $112.48.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

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.