NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Lowered by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 54.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,883 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 20,307 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in NetApp by 54.9% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased 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 buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total transaction of $918,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 288,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,160,004.40. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% 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 valued at $1,920,479 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 890,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,098,048. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $103.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.61. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.42.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup increased their price target 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 reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.86.

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.