NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Sets New 1-Year High After Earnings Beat

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) reached a new 52-week high on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $135.10 and last traded at $128.41, with a volume of 420238 shares. The stock had previously closed at $126.68.

The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $1,003,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,017,276. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 59.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $211,637,000 after acquiring an additional 613,583 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $56,313,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,517,000 after purchasing an additional 416,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth $48,074,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.39. 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 has a market capitalization of $25.76 billion, a PE ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24.

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.