NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Hits New 52-Week High at $131.02

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $131.02 and last traded at $130.86, with a volume of 1180030 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $128.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

NetApp Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,205 shares of company stock worth $2,345,409 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $232,502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in NetApp by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,148,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $225,532,000 after purchasing an additional 450,263 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by 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.