NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) CEO George Kurian Sells 8,500 Shares of Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

George Kurian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 16th, George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00.
• On Monday, November 18th, George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $1,003,000.00.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NTAP traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $126.30. 1,088,172 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,364,984. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $121.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.69. 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 stock has a market cap of $25.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during 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%. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.20.

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.