Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 155 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 155 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in NetApp by 2,833.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in NetApp during the third quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $124.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $135.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $120.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.82.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock 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 objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,403 shares of company stock valued at $6,248,501. Corporate insiders own 0.47% 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.