NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $124.0667.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock opened at $120.42 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The firm has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.01.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,350,714. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $281,093,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in NetApp by 108.9% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,947,200 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $313,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,339 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 4,687.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $93,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,372 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 16.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,112,316 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $756,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,626 shares during the period. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 1,230.3% during the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,007,591 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 931,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.