J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Has $1.72 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 55.9% in the first quarter, now holding 19,621 shares valued at approximately $1.72 million after selling 24,921 shares.
• Analysts have mixed views on NetApp, with stock ratings varying from a sell to buy, and a consensus target price of $118.86.
• NetApp recently reported $1.93 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52, reflecting a 2.1% yield.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 55.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,621 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 24,921 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after purchasing an additional 888,671 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in NetApp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $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 lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 8.0% during 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 worth $346,653,000 after buying an additional 220,393 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after buying an additional 550,607 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,014,237 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $176,931,000 after buying an additional 210,207 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $118.86.

NetApp Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $1.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,630,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,471,609. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $104.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.73. The stock has a market cap of $20.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. 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 business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.62%.

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.