Liberty Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired 13,573 shares of NetApp, Inc., valued at approximately $1,192,000, during the first quarter, as per its latest SEC filing.
• NetApp's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $1.93, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $1.73 billion, marking a 3.8% year-over-year increase.
• Analysts have mixed views on NetApp, with JPMorgan raising its price target to $130.00 while UBS reduced it to $108.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Hold" among investors.

Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,573 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in NetApp by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,461 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in NetApp by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,978 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 4,873 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in NetApp by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 231,935 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $26,923,000 after buying an additional 17,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,403,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $101.10 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.44. The company's 50-day moving average is $104.23 and its 200-day moving average is $101.86. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at $30,208,812.90. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.86.

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.

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