Congress Asset Management Co. Acquires New Shares in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Congress Asset Management Co. has acquired 8,638 shares of NetApp, Inc. for approximately $920,000 during the second quarter, reflecting growing institutional interest in the data storage provider.
• Analyst ratings for NetApp have been mostly positive, with multiple firms setting price targets above $120, and a current consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $124.07.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, scheduled for payment on October 22, representing an annualized yield of 1.7%.

Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,638 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $920,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 375.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $123,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,628 shares in the company, valued at $2,922,074.76. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total value of $1,075,462.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 274,938 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,792,629.58. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,750 shares of company stock worth $3,255,778. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $119.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $113.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

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.

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