NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Standpoint Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday, December 23rd, MarketBeat.com reports.
Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BidaskClub downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price target on NetApp and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of NetApp to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Goldman Sachs Group lowered NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares raised shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.85.
NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $64.19. 1,437,476 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,574,250. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $44.55 and a fifty-two week high of $78.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.59.
NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The data storage provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.20% and a return on equity of 95.04%. NetApp’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NetApp will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In related news, CAO Scott R. Allen sold 2,781 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $173,061.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 87.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,221,610 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $878,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505,804 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in NetApp by 225.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,724,020 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $90,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,671 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 18.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,050,117 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $373,291,000 after purchasing an additional 937,586 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 357.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 992,896 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $61,261,000 after buying an additional 775,940 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in NetApp by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,502,468 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $131,405,000 after buying an additional 570,720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.25% of the company’s stock.
About NetApp
NetApp, Inc provides software, systems, and services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It offers cloud data services, such as ONTAP cloud storage data management and NetApp cloud sync data synchronization services; NetApp SaaS backup for Microsoft Office 365; NetApp cloud backup solutions; OnCommand management software and management integration tools; and NetApp private storage for cloud.