NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Lifted to Buy at Loop Capital

Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Loop Capital currently has $150.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $121.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on NTAP. Argus increased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wedbush reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $116.82 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $126.65 and its 200 day moving average is $114.46. The stock has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in NetApp by 706.3% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is 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.