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

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $117.81.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $232,502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after acquiring an additional 773,773 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 254.8% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $174,449,000 after purchasing an additional 47,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $128.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 1.25. NetApp has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $129.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $111.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.29.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 43.10%.

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.