NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $143.65 and last traded at $142.74, with a volume of 6025324 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $138.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 19th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “mixed” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.27.

NetApp Trading Up 2.7%

The firm has a market cap of $28.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $110.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 118.11% and a net margin of 18.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,164,112.86. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $14,869,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 4.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,266,000 after acquiring an additional 20,089 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 216.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,875,000 after acquiring an additional 634,085 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in NetApp by 26.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,868,000 after acquiring an additional 32,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in NetApp by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after acquiring an additional 135,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.