NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $91.07 and last traded at $91.01, with a volume of 563653 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Up 0.6 %

The company has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 61,431 shares of company stock valued at $7,309,224. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 25.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 111.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,666 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 282,467 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,888,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. 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.