NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Price Breaks Below 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $205.17 and traded as low as $195.58. NetApp shares last traded at $199.18, with a volume of 2,563,000 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on NetApp in a report on Monday, October 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Loop Capital set a $300.00 target price on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Down 8.8%

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. This trade represents a 43.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,441,423.80. This trade represents a 42.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 173,524 shares of company stock valued at $35,018,126 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 56.9% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 204 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in NetApp by 90.8% in the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth about $55,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises data centers, public clouds and hybrid environments. Its offerings support enterprise applications, artificial intelligence workloads, business analytics, backup and disaster recovery.

The company’s portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, the ONTAP data management operating system, StorageGRID object storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service.