NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $89.06 and last traded at $89.16, with a volume of 376180 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $91.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.25. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction 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 $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.