Brokerages Set NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Price Target at $129.06

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $129.06.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in NetApp by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in NetApp by 1.4% during the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in NetApp by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,437,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Down 0.7 %

NTAP traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $117.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,973,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,807,237. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $121.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp has a 1-year low of $76.41 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. NetApp's payout ratio is 40.63%.

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.