Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,584,418 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 476,929 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of NetApp worth $2,685,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $74,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

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

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $126.22. 1,220,643 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,898,995. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year 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 firm has a market capitalization 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. The company has a 50-day moving average of $123.29 and a 200 day moving average of $105.69.

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

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Bank of America upped their price target on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

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.