NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Upgraded to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 11th, 2023

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, The Fly reports. The firm currently has $75.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $74.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NetApp from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.20.

NetApp Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $65.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.25. NetApp has a twelve month low of $58.08 and a twelve month high of $79.89.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.06. NetApp had a net margin of 19.93% and a return on equity of 103.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. NetApp’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 5th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 34.42%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $144,607.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 144,920 shares in the company, valued at $9,314,008.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total value of $1,081,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 44,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,774.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $144,607.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 144,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,314,008.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,815,323. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 183.5% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 629 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.92% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

(Get Rating)

NetApp, Inc provides software, systems, and services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. The company offers cloud data services, including NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS, NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, NetApp Cloud Sync, NetApp Cloud Secure, NetApp Cloud Tiering, NetApp SaaS Backup, NetApp Kubernetes Service, and NetApp Cloud Insights.

Analyst Recommendations for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Receive News & Ratings for NetApp Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NetApp and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.