Brown Advisory Inc. Cuts Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 92.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,159 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 598,163 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 39.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,250,000 after buying an additional 10,494 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $5,151,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 55.8% during the first quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 221,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $19,492,000 after buying an additional 79,457 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,069,617,000 after buying an additional 429,343 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its position in NetApp by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,978 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $105.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $101.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.32. 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 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at $30,208,812.90. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This trade represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,590,514. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $117.79.

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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