Blair William & Co. IL Has $1.81 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 14.0%, now owning 20,582 shares valued at approximately $1.8 million.
• Insider transactions have occurred, including CEO George Kurian selling 8,500 shares for nearly $919,000, reflecting a 2.86% decrease in his ownership.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, representing an annualized payout of $2.08 and a 2.0% yield.

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 14.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,582 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 2,531 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 4,687.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $93,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,372 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position 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. boosted its position 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 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. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 97.7% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,096,236 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $96,293,000 after acquiring an additional 541,837 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $108.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 332,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,027,008. The stock has a market cap of $21.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. Research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Morgan Stanley restated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.21.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 455 shares in the company, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.