NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $118.86.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total value of $106,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,976.84. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total transaction of $918,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 288,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,160,004.40. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,440,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 4,687.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $93,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,372 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in NetApp by 1,230.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,007,591 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 931,850 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 5,858.0% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $104.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,585,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,578,407. The company's 50-day moving average price is $103.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.61. NetApp has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

About NetApp

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.