NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Gap Down to $131.91

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $131.91, but opened at $125.08. NetApp shares last traded at $124.29, with a volume of 690,557 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NTAP. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.67.

NetApp Stock Down 7.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $25.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $127.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $113.33.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 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 1.71%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently 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.