Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,609 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% in the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in NetApp by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 5,108 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,149,531. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised 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. Northland Securities raised their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $122.09 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

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.