Tredje AP fonden Reduces Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Tredje AP fonden reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,551 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 506 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $119.35 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. NetApp’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

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.