Bailard Inc. Invests $937,000 in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 10,666 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $937,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 5,858.0% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in NetApp by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,544,000 after acquiring an additional 529,471 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $1.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $108.37. 1,742,694 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,913,713. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $103.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.42.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted 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. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.80 earnings per share. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at $30,208,812.90. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,697,354. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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 given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $118.86.

NetApp 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.