CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Has $4.24 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,501 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,137 shares during the quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 2,833.3% during the 3rd 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. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $119.36 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,610 shares of company stock worth $6,149,531. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.20.

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.