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

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Citigroup from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.35% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen raised their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted 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. Loop Capital raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.00.

NetApp Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.34 on Friday. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $77.56 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.59. The company has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.68% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm’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 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NetApp will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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