NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Sets New 12-Month High at $131.02

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $131.02 and last traded at $130.86, with a volume of 1180030 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $128.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

NetApp Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $26.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,345,409 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 254.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,257,000. Hedge funds and other 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.