M&G Plc Purchases Shares of 119,481 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 119,481 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,546,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in NetApp by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 88,615 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 35,172 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 147,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $13,005,000 after purchasing an additional 28,609 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 7.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter worth about $473,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $126.22. 1,220,643 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,898,995. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $123.29 and a 200 day moving average of $105.69.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen upped their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Company 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.