Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 15,879 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. significantly reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 73.8%, selling 15,879 shares and leaving it with 5,650 shares valued at $496,000.
• Several hedge funds have recently altered their holdings in NetApp, with notable increases like Manchester Capital Management LLC boosting its stake by 375%.
• NetApp reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $1.93, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.90, along with a revenue of $1.73 billion.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 73.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,650 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 15,879 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 375.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 929.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.21.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $109.56 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The company's 50-day moving average is $105.12 and its 200-day moving average is $101.04. 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during 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 firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.62%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. This trade represents a 39.89% 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 link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

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.

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