UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Price

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at UBS Group from $115.00 to $108.00 in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.44% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.93.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $98.68 on Friday. NetApp has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. NetApp’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total value of $695,555.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This trade represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,724 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,032. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in NetApp by 375.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.