Berger Financial Group Inc Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Berger Financial Group Inc has reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 11.4%, selling 6,191 shares and now owning 48,202 shares valued at approximately $4.23 million.
• Several other institutional investors have adjusted their positions in NetApp, with Zions Bancorporation acquiring a new stake and Forsta AP Fonden increasing its holdings by 38.3% during the same quarter.
• NetApp's recent earnings report showed a quarterly EPS of $1.93, exceeding expectations, while the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, yielding 2.0% annually.

Berger Financial Group Inc lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,202 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,191 shares during the quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc's holdings in NetApp were worth $4,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 34,152 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in NetApp by 54.9% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 0.4% during the first quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,608,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP traded up $1.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $107.78. 1,558,253 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,038,304. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.01.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued 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 is 36.62%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379. Company 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.