NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives $119.27 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $117.79.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This trade represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,026 shares of company stock worth $2,549,860. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 375.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $104.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,673,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,924,257. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.76. NetApp has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. Research analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.