NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) PT Raised to $130.00

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price upped by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from $120.00 to $130.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “in-line” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.28% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays increased their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.38.

NetApp Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $125.87 on Monday. NetApp has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $126.23 and a 200 day moving average of $110.13. The firm has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $5,395,146 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

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