MV Capital Management Inc. Has $217,000 Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 20.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,072 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 49.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 362,959 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,541,000 after purchasing an additional 119,955 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $1,002,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 109.8% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,868 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,212 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 185.9% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 15,145 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 9,848 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 81.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 33,903 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,573,000 after purchasing an additional 15,227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,205 shares of company stock worth $5,193,529. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $129.88. 1,562,259 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,008,349. The stock has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $70.82 and a one year high of $131.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $116.01 and a 200-day moving average of $101.75. 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.81.

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.