CCM Investment Group LLC Buys Shares of 14,935 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• CCM Investment Group LLC has acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. worth approximately $1.32 million by purchasing 14,935 shares during the first quarter.
• Analysts have issued several target price adjustments for NetApp, with Wells Fargo reducing its target from $115.00 to $100.00, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased theirs from $115.00 to $130.00.
• NetApp reported a quarterly EPS of $1.93, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $1.73 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 3.8%.

CCM Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,935 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,320,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth $46,096,000. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,552,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,153,000. Entropy Technologies LP increased its position in shares of NetApp by 148.9% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 12,973 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,140,000 after acquiring an additional 7,760 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 384,362 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $109.43. The stock had a trading volume of 795,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,025,288. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.11. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.44.

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. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $119.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

About NetApp

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.