Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Buys 538 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,585 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 254.8% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,942 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in NetApp by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after acquiring an additional 950,204 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $74,257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Argus increased their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other NetApp news, 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 sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.1 %

NTAP stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $126.22. 1,220,643 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,898,995. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $123.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.69. The stock has a market cap of $25.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

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