Paradiem LLC Increases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Paradiem LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,026 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the quarter. NetApp comprises 3.1% of Paradiem LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Paradiem LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $11,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 6.8% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 4,247 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 6.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 38,431 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 112.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in NetApp by 57.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 7,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 2,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in NetApp by 18.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 344,820 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $44,309,000 after acquiring an additional 53,647 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 1.9 %

NetApp stock opened at $126.05 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $120.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Northland Securities boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.20.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 43,110 shares of company stock valued at $5,077,596. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.