UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock

Key Points

• UBS Group raised its price target for NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) from $108.00 to $114.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.21% from the last closing price, while maintaining a "neutral" rating.
• NetApp recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.93 per share, exceeding estimates, with a 3.8% increase in revenue year-over-year, signaling strong financial performance.
• Insider trading shows CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares at $108.85, indicating a 2.91% decrease in ownership, while total institutional ownership stands at 92.17% of the company.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at UBS Group from $108.00 to $114.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the data storage provider's stock. UBS Group's target price suggests a potential upside of 1.21% from the company's previous close.

NTAP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $120.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $112.64 on Thursday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $106.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.28. NetApp has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $22.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%.NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $925,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 283,688 shares in the company, valued at $30,879,438.80. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 27,802 shares of company stock worth $2,951,604. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 72.7% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 2,095 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 173.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 4,502 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after buying an additional 550,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 11,960 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 4,118 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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