Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 16,100 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 38.3% during the 1st quarter, now owning 58,100 shares valued at approximately $5.1 million.
• Several large investors, including Manchester Capital Management and Itau Unibanco Holding S.A., also increased their stakes in NetApp during the same period.
• NetApp recently reported an EPS of $1.93 for the last quarter, beating analysts' estimates and showing a 3.8% year-over-year revenue increase.

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 38.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,100 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 16,100 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in NetApp were worth $5,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 375.0% during 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. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value of $105,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,302 shares of company stock worth $2,026,379. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.21.

NetApp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $109.56. 1,965,257 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,030,426. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $21.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.11.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.62%.

NetApp 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.