Brokerages Set NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) PT at $137.33

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $132.07.

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

NetApp Stock Down 15.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $100.00 on Monday. NetApp has a 12 month low of $88.49 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.86. 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 $20.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after acquiring an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 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.