Central Bank & Trust Co. Sells 8,445 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Central Bank & Trust Co. reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 16.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,671 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 8,445 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 46.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,754,000 after buying an additional 5,273 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at $473,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 60.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 527,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $55,355,000 after buying an additional 198,627 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 221.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,731,000 after acquiring an additional 207,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in NetApp by 63.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 343,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,025,000 after acquiring an additional 133,813 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 0.6 %

NetApp stock opened at $115.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $121.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.85. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

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.