NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Down 4.9% – Here’s What Happened

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $123.60 and its 200 day moving average is $119.85.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,517,000 after purchasing an additional 416,233 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of NetApp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $309,811,000 after acquiring an additional 82,378 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of NetApp by 26.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,148,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $225,532,000 after acquiring an additional 450,263 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 11.9% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,982,787 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $208,133,000 after acquiring an additional 211,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in NetApp by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $223,806,000 after purchasing an additional 196,952 shares during the last quarter. 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.