Brokerages Set NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Target Price at $139.20

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment 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 price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $139.20.

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

NetApp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $117.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $120.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.36. NetApp has a 12-month low of $83.62 and a 12-month high of $135.45. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 51,864 shares of company stock valued at $6,185,830. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 23,584 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 5.7% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 43,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,596,000 after buying an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 12,536 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 651.5% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,515 shares during the period. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 4,602 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 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.