NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Short Interest Update

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,220,000 shares, a decline of 21.4% from the February 28th total of 7,910,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in NetApp by 32.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of NetApp by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,461 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463 shares during the period. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,385,000. 111 Capital acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $475,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,936,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.65 on Tuesday, reaching $89.49. The company had a trading volume of 2,838,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,858,786. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $108.45 and a 200-day moving average of $116.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp has a 12 month low of $86.40 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

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.