Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp significantly increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 1,032.6%, acquiring a total of 31,870 shares valued at approximately $2.8 million.
• Several institutional investors have also shown interest in NetApp, with 92.17% of the stock now held by these entities.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, representing a 1.7% dividend yield, to be paid on October 22nd.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 1,032.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,870 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 29,056 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in NetApp were worth $2,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 54.9% during 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. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NTAP opened at $123.53 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $24.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $108.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.07.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $925,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,879,438.80. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,921,775 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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