iA Global Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,463 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in NetApp by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 82.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NetApp stock traded down $4.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $118.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 832,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,940,366. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The company has a market cap of $24.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.27. 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 50-day simple moving average of $125.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.02.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released 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. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. NetApp’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.