StockNews.com Downgrades NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) to Hold

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

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer started coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.53.

NetApp Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $3.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $119.56. 1,106,203 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,337,966. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $120.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.02. NetApp has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $135.45. 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $1,003,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,282 shares in the company, valued at $34,017,276. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,110 shares of company stock worth $7,632,601 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently 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.