Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 51.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,902 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,167 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in NetApp were worth $518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 37.4% in the first quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,101,000 after purchasing an additional 9,600 shares during the period. Suncoast Equity Management increased its position in NetApp by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 6,365 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in NetApp by 79.5% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 519,615 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $45,643,000 after buying an additional 230,111 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 112.9% in the first quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,224 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in NetApp by 707.8% in the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 498,520 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $43,790,000 after acquiring an additional 436,805 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.95 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $105.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,671,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,928,127. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $21.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.69 and a 200-day moving average of $104.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. 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 research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $117.79.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,998 shares of company stock worth $3,366,108. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.