NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $139.20 Average Price Target from Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $139.20.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on NTAP

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 51,159 shares of company stock worth $6,096,859 over the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,267,357,000 after purchasing an additional 199,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $359,517,000 after buying an additional 416,233 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 3.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 82,378 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $223,806,000 after acquiring an additional 196,952 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock opened at $118.09 on Friday. NetApp has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $121.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.29. The firm has a market cap of $24.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

About NetApp

(Get Free Report

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.

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