NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $118.22, but opened at $99.33. NetApp shares last traded at $103.28, with a volume of 1,077,237 shares traded.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.07.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 15.4 %

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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $119.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.52%.

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.