NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 271.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 731 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $77,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the first quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following 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 through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,205 shares of company stock valued at $5,193,529. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP traded up $1.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $132.09. The stock had a trading volume of 2,164,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,635. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $132.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $118.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.17.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.10%.

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