National Pension Service Raises Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 10.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 436,165 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,250 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.21% of NetApp worth $53,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.8 %

NTAP opened at $116.40 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.82 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.98. 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 company has a market cap of $23.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

NetApp Company Profile

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.