NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 12-Month Low - Here's Why

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $86.70 and last traded at $89.75, with a volume of 2850756 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $87.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $18.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.79.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at $577,668. The trade was a 78.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,676 shares of company stock valued at $3,586,451 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $96,873,000 after buying an additional 187,638 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $160,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 433,616 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $55,009,000 after purchasing an additional 71,165 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 282,467 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $34,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,291 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

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.