NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Holdings Decreased by M&G Plc

M&G Plc lessened its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 90.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,877 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 108,604 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $74,257,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $2.94 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.87. 1,491,708 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,932,258. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $126.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.86.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Argus lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. 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. Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.38.

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.