NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA decreased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,709,824 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 530,990 shares during the quarter. NetApp comprises approximately 1.0% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned approximately 7.14% of NetApp worth $1,296,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 65.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 88,615 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,812,000 after buying an additional 35,172 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in NetApp by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,855,000 after buying an additional 65,644 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 147,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $13,005,000 after buying an additional 28,609 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 86,556 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,568,000 after buying an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,037 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total value of $1,540,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,877,807.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on NTAP. 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. Argus raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.73.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $1.63 on Friday, hitting $115.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,351,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,867,529. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $66.01 and a one year high of $116.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $105.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

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.