B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Acquires 18,296 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 66.9%, acquiring an additional 18,296 shares for a total of 45,631 shares valued at $4,008,000.
• Institutional investors collectively own 92.17% of NetApp's stock, with notable increases by firms such as MML Investors Services and Two Sigma Securities.
• NetApp has reported quarterly earnings of $1.93 per share, slightly surpassing analyst expectations, alongside a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, marking an annual yield of 1.9%.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 66.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,631 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 18,296 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in NetApp were worth $4,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,375,363,000 after buying an additional 597,956 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,096,679 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $623,383,000 after acquiring an additional 72,223 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in NetApp by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $308,107,000 after acquiring an additional 384,362 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,986,330 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $346,653,000 after acquiring an additional 220,393 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NetApp by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $4.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $112.79. 2,552,025 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,902,549. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $106.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.31.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.24% and a net margin of 17.77%.The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on NTAP. UBS Group raised their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities raised their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $124.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,802 shares of company stock valued at $2,951,604 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.