Cypress Capital LLC Purchases New Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Cypress Capital LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,870 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,131,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,069,617,000 after acquiring an additional 429,343 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $362,544,000 after purchasing an additional 529,471 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,986,330 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,653,000 after buying an additional 220,393 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its position in NetApp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $335,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,919 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $107.61. 1,400,089 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,923,816. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $99.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total value of $695,555.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares in the company, 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 three months, insiders sold 17,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,590,514. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $117.79.

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.