Commerce Bank Lowers Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Commerce Bank trimmed its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 80,432 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,277 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 66.5% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 182,607 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $13,856,000 after buying an additional 72,901 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in NetApp by 1.2% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 82,825 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,284,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in NetApp by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $84,202,000 after buying an additional 266,812 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,257,000. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,334 shares of company stock valued at $5,103,798. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $134.86 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $120.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.69. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.75 billion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.