NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given New $140.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $135.00 to $140.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.00.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock opened at $122.34 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.69. NetApp has a twelve month low of $77.56 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.68% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that NetApp will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. State Street Corp increased its holdings in NetApp by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after buying an additional 199,384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after acquiring an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,517,000 after purchasing an additional 416,233 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in NetApp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $309,811,000 after purchasing an additional 82,378 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in NetApp by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $223,806,000 after purchasing an additional 196,952 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.