NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Downgraded to Neutral Rating by Susquehanna

Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) from a positive rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $130.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $155.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on NTAP. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.53.

NetApp Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $123.02 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.04.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,110 shares of company stock worth $7,632,601. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $4,314,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,141,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 2,830 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.