NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Down 6.5% Following Insider Selling

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price dropped 6.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $169.66 and last traded at $163.2060. Approximately 357,892 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,763,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.55.

Specifically, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total transaction of $170,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $31.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.52.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.