NetApp’s (NTAP) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their neutral rating on shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $120.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $117.81.

NetApp Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $126.17 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $110.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.58. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $127.97. The firm has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,871 shares of company stock worth $1,828,830 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in NetApp by 65.8% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 88,615 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after buying an additional 35,172 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,855,000 after acquiring an additional 65,644 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 147,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $13,005,000 after purchasing an additional 28,609 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in NetApp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,037 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in NetApp by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after purchasing an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.