Empowered Funds LLC Has $12.56 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,225 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 25,594 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $12,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $566,000. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 41,875 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,265 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,718 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,706 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,110 shares of company stock valued at $7,632,601. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.12. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

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.