NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Short Interest Update

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,910,000 shares, a drop of 21.8% from the February 13th total of 10,120,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reduced their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 929.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $1.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $92.26. 2,552,908 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,725,763. The company’s 50 day moving average is $114.43 and its 200 day moving average is $118.83. NetApp has a one year low of $89.88 and a one year high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

NetApp Company Profile

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.