NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $110.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. NetApp traded as low as $96.38 and last traded at $96.73, with a volume of 1573796 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $99.81.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on NTAP. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays cut their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.40.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total value of $54,579.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,024.75. This trade represents a 3.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its position in NetApp by 50.0% during 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 during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio 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.