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

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.81.

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. 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 research report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,705 shares of company stock worth $1,391,109. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in NetApp by 706.3% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in 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. grew its position in NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $127.73 on Wednesday. NetApp has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $130.87. The company has a market capitalization of $26.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $113.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.