NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Down 4.9% - What's Next?

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) dropped 4.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $118.42 and last traded at $119.12. Approximately 347,292 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 1,826,401 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.06.

Remove Ads

NetApp Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $24.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $123.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.86.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. NetApp's payout ratio is 44.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.