NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $160.00 to $130.00. The stock had previously closed at $118.22, but opened at $99.33. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. NetApp shares last traded at $103.28, with a volume of 1,077,237 shares traded.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NTAP. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 13.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $120.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.02. The company has a market capitalization of $20.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.24%.

About NetApp

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.