Kathmere Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Kathmere Capital Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 2,096 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Insight Partners LLC grew its position in NetApp by 42.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 6,636 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,649,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,850 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,758,000 after purchasing an additional 15,200 shares during the last quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 7,180 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 51.1% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $128.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $130.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.36 and a 200 day moving average of $101.29.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.10%.

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,205 shares of company stock worth $2,345,409 over the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.