Wedbush Reiterates Neutral Rating for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP)

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $120.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential downside of 5.73% from the company’s previous close.

NTAP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

NetApp Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $127.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.24. NetApp has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $127.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. NetApp’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,496,330.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,496,330.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,871 shares of company stock worth $1,828,830. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 254.8% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $74,257,000. 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.