Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $132.00 to $146.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.20.

NetApp Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $122.86 and a 200 day moving average of $124.12. NetApp has a 52 week low of $83.62 and a 52 week high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $1,003,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,017,276. The trade was a 2.86 % 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 quarter. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management boosted its holdings in NetApp by 1.4% in the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its position in NetApp by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in NetApp by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in NetApp by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.