National Bank of Canada FI Raises Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 221.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 207,968 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in NetApp were worth $32,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in NetApp by 254.8% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after acquiring an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $126.55. 507,296 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,954,766. The business has a fifty day moving average of $124.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTAP. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

NetApp Company Profile

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.