NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $123.07.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $93.44 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $88.11 and its 200-day moving average is $109.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. NetApp has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total transaction of $54,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,024.75. The trade was a 3.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,676 shares of company stock worth $3,586,451. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in NetApp by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,485,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management increased its holdings in NetApp by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,268,000 after purchasing an additional 113,360 shares during the period. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $5,151,000. 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.