Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Price

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $132.00 to $146.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on NTAP. TD Cowen boosted their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

NetApp Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $122.49 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $122.86 and its 200-day moving average is $124.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp has a one year low of $83.62 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in NetApp by 2,833.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by 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.