Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Ballentine Partners LLC has acquired 3,571 shares of NetApp, Inc. valued at approximately $380,000, marking a significant investment during the second quarter.
• Insider transactions revealed that CEO George Kurian and EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold shares totaling $1,199,132.50, indicating a decrease in their respective holdings by 3.08% and 4.06%.
• Analysts have set varying price targets for NetApp, with a consensus average of $124.07 and ratings ranging from "Buy" to "Hold," reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock's potential growth.

Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,571 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 2.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 597,956 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 1.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,096,679 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $623,383,000 after buying an additional 72,223 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 18.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,546,548 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $311,529,000 after buying an additional 560,218 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 12.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $308,107,000 after buying an additional 384,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in NetApp by 11.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,179,710 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $183,209,000 after buying an additional 230,793 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total transaction of $123,670.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,922,074.76. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,750 shares of company stock valued at $3,255,778 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Argus restated a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $124.07.

NetApp Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $119.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.82.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

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.

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