Cerity Partners LLC Has $3.74 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,560 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 2,556 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $3,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.37. 1,742,694 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,913,713. The stock has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.82. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The business 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.80 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment 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 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $118.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total value of $106,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,590,976.84. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,697,354 in the last quarter. 0.47% 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.