MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH Makes New $1.39 Million Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,236 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,389,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 254.8% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after acquiring an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $74,257,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,205 shares of company stock worth $5,193,529 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 0.3 %

NetApp stock opened at $129.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $131.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.75. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its 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 return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus upped their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

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.