NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $137.40 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $137.40.

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

NetApp Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $122.66. 2,029,280 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,858,246. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp has a 12 month low of $83.62 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.92.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. This represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $37,301,000 after acquiring an additional 24,651 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,225,000 after purchasing an additional 7,318 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 4.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $24,057,000 after buying an additional 8,305 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at $4,059,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in NetApp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $309,811,000 after buying an additional 82,378 shares during the period. 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.