NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 42.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,213 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,783 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in NetApp by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 5,108 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.53.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $119.56 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $120.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,110 shares of company stock valued at $7,632,601. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp 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.