NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

NetApp Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $2.11 on Monday, reaching $122.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,821,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,269,484. The stock has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $120.88 and a 200-day moving average of $122.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,110 shares of company stock worth $5,077,596 over the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.