NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given “Neutral” Rating at Wedbush

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued on Friday,RTT News reports. They presently have a $110.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $120.00. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 10.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.20.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP traded down $19.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $99.16. The company had a trading volume of 4,478,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,592,910. The business has a 50-day moving average of $120.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp has a 1 year low of $88.49 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in NetApp by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.