NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Trading Down 4.9% – What’s Next?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price dropped 4.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $118.42 and last traded at $119.12. Approximately 347,292 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 1,826,401 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $123.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. NetApp’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.