Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Purchases 266 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 valued at $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in 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 worth $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 in the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $120.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,020,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,638,773. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $127.37 and its 200-day moving average is $113.76. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.67.

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.