NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $160.00 to $130.00. The stock had previously closed at $118.22, but opened at $99.33. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. NetApp shares last traded at $103.28, with a volume of 1,077,237 shares trading hands.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.33.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at $31,755,705.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $20.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

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.