NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $129.07.

A number of brokerages recently commented on NTAP. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,461 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463 shares in the last quarter. DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,385,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $475,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $7,936,000. Finally, AG Asset Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $587,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $91.09 on Friday. NetApp has a twelve month low of $89.88 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $110.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.41.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

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.