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

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $89.06 and last traded at $89.16, with a volume of 376180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup lowered their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Trading Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

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.