NetApp’s (NTAP) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by equities researchers at Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $115.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price target points to a potential upside of 15.15% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $137.00 price objective on shares of NetApp and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.21.

NetApp Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $99.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $103.81 and a 200-day moving average of $111.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.52. NetApp has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $127.78. The firm has a market cap of $19.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.38.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 25th. The data storage provider reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.17. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.28% and a net margin of 17.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.45, for a total value of $103,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,758.75. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after buying an additional 20,089 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 26.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,868,000 after purchasing an additional 32,833 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 216.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,875,000 after purchasing an additional 634,085 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in NetApp by 3.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,810,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $192,938,000 after purchasing an additional 66,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its holdings in NetApp by 496.7% during the 3rd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 18,168 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after purchasing an additional 15,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.