NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.11 EPS

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS.

NetApp Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $119.22. The company had a trading volume of 706,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,903,701. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $127.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.33. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its position in NetApp by 706.3% in 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. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.67.

About NetApp

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.