Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Price

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $115.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the data storage provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna cut NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays raised NetApp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.27.

NetApp Stock Up 4.5%

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $4.46 on Friday, hitting $103.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,149,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,922,029. NetApp has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The business's fifty day moving average price is $90.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $21.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at $577,668. The trade was a 78.92% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,724 shares of company stock worth $2,520,032 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,941 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,322 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,171 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently 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.