NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Down 2.8% – What’s Next?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price dropped 2.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $125.94 and last traded at $125.94. Approximately 204,680 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 1,849,778 shares. The stock had previously closed at $129.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.00.

NetApp Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $122.36 and a 200-day moving average of $122.95. 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management boosted its holdings in NetApp by 1.4% during the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $792,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its position in NetApp by 4.3% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in 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.