NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) PT Raised to $130.00

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price increased by Susquehanna from $115.00 to $130.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a positive rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded NetApp from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $104.73.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $115.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp has a 52 week low of $66.01 and a 52 week high of $116.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,496,330.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,496,330.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $232,502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 254.8% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in NetApp by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $174,449,000 after purchasing an additional 47,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.