NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on NTAP. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.20.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $123.67 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $120.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.71. NetApp has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,110 shares of company stock valued at $5,077,596. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in NetApp by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in NetApp by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in NetApp by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in NetApp by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by 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.