NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Share Price Breaks Below Fifty Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Key Points

• NetApp shares fell below their 50-day moving average, trading as low as $195.58 versus the $205.17 average, with the latest price near $199.18.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $205.24, although some firms recently downgraded or maintained neutral ratings.
• NetApp reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $2.58 in earnings per share and $2.02 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 29.9% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.52, yielding about 1% annually.

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $205.17 and traded as low as $195.58. NetApp shares last traded at $199.18, with a volume of 2,563,000 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays downgraded NetApp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $219.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $205.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.02. The stock has a market cap of $39.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 29.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $690,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,814 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,562,800. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total value of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,291.87. The trade was a 43.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 173,524 shares of company stock worth $35,018,126. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 9.4% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $687,762,000 after buying an additional 383,701 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in NetApp by 127.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in NetApp during the second quarter worth $258,093,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises data centers, public clouds and hybrid environments. Its offerings support enterprise applications, artificial intelligence workloads, business analytics, backup and disaster recovery.

The company's portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, the ONTAP data management operating system, StorageGRID object storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service.

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