NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as low as $96.38 and last traded at $96.73, with a volume of 1573796 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $99.81.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on NTAP. 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 report on Friday. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,942,000 after purchasing an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $119.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

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.

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