NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Thomas Michael Nevens Sells 3,334 Shares of Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $127.73 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $130.87. The stock has a market cap of $26.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.81.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in NetApp by 14,650.0% during the 4th 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. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 58.7% during 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. Hedge funds and other 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.