NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $139.20 Average PT from Brokerages

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $139.20.

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 51,864 shares of company stock worth $6,185,830 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $819,000 after buying an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire grew its position in NetApp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 14,734 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,710,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 10,373 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 13,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $110,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $117.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $120.97 and its 200 day moving average is $123.36. NetApp has a twelve month low of $83.62 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

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.