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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th 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 period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Northland Securities increased their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded up $2.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $94.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,018,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,873,500. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp has a 1-year low of $89.88 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

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.