NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.33.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $124.47. 2,975,285 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,429,890. 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 1-year low of $85.28 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $120.07 and a 200-day moving average of $121.86.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm 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 firm's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Creative Planning grew its position in NetApp by 8.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,001 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,211,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 139.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,004 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 1,752 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in NetApp by 3.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 360,394 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $44,512,000 after purchasing an additional 10,731 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 279.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 57,470 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 42,312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

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.