NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $81.86 and last traded at $82.85, with a volume of 757712 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $90.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Trading Down 9.8 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.68. The stock has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 6,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.