Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 16,751 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 136.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,017 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,751 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in NetApp by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $232,502,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $159,398,000 after acquiring an additional 24,416 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,771,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $156,183,000 after acquiring an additional 507,317 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,163,946 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus boosted their price objective 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 boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $130.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $121.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.27.

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

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

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.