NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $129.06 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $129.06.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $123.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $121.56 and a 200 day moving average of $122.36. NetApp has a 52 week low of $77.30 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in NetApp in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is 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.