NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $139.20.

A number of research firms have recently commented on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen increased their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,864 shares of company stock worth $6,185,830 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Aviso Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of NetApp by 11.7% during 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 last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in 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 valued at $2,437,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in NetApp by 3.5% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,492 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 4.5% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $1.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $116.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,091,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,260,501. NetApp has a 52 week low of $83.62 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $23.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

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.