NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Rating Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $160.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 30.62% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $122.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp has a 52 week low of $83.62 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.12.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced 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 during 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%. NetApp’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2,833.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.