AlphaCore Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• AlphaCore Capital LLC has acquired 3,640 shares of NetApp, Inc. valued at approximately $320,000 during the first quarter, signaling institutional interest in the company.
• NetApp reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.93, which exceeded analysts' expectations, indicating growth in revenue despite a year-on-year EPS decline.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.0% and a payout ratio of 36.62%.

AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,640 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 4,687.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $93,874,000 after buying an additional 1,046,372 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 5,858.0% in the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,942,000 after buying an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,375,363,000 after buying an additional 597,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in NetApp by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $327,848,000 after buying an additional 550,607 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Down 0.3%

NTAP traded down $0.33 during trading on Monday, reaching $105.88. 1,334,343 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,478,676. The stock has a market cap of $21.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $104.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at $30,208,812.90. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.21.

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.