Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its NetApp stake by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 225,247 shares and leaving it with 1,774,849 shares valued at about $190.1 million.
• Analyst sentiment on NetApp has softened, with several firms lowering ratings or price targets; MarketBeat shows the stock’s consensus rating is now “Hold” with an average price target of $122.27.
• NetApp recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $2.12 EPS on revenue of $1.71 billion, while insiders also sold shares in recent weeks, including CAO Lorenzo Daniel De and EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan.

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,774,849 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 225,247 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.90% of NetApp worth $190,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 38.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 9.9% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $4,986,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in NetApp by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,589,000 after buying an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 12.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,148,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NetApp from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of NetApp from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $122.27.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $142.74 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $110.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $143.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at $2,164,112.86. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 3,275 shares of company stock worth $347,650 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc NASDAQ: NTAP is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp's offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company's product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.

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