NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $139.20.

Several analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $1,003,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,017,276. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,123,351 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 8.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 38.5% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $152,270,000 after purchasing an additional 342,415 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 926.1% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,022,000 after buying an additional 256,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 546.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 289,504 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $33,606,000 after buying an additional 244,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $122.44. 1,285,834 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,369,889. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. NetApp has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $24.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $121.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.37.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.