NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Short Interest Update

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,910,000 shares, a decrease of 21.8% from the February 13th total of 10,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded up $2.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $94.02. 1,018,590 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,873,500. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp has a 12-month low of $89.88 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $114.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.02.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % 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.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.