NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $91.07 and last traded at $91.01, with a volume of 563653 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $116.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.89.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,431 shares of company stock worth $7,309,224 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in NetApp by 929.6% in 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 during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.