NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Price Target Raised to $132.00 at Morgan Stanley

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $127.00 to $132.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.14% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.25.

NetApp Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $126.75 on Friday. NetApp has a one year low of $77.46 and a one year high of $135.01. The company has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $121.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 over the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 2,833.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.