NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Thomas Michael Nevens Sells 3,333 Shares

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,096.71. This represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,692,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,809,319. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.30 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $121.41 and its 200-day moving average is $122.35. The firm has a market cap of $25.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 40.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 46.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 5,273 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in NetApp by 221.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,731,000 after buying an additional 207,968 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in NetApp by 4.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $24,057,000 after buying an additional 8,305 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in NetApp by 132.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,230 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,963,000 after acquiring an additional 16,066 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.