LPL Financial LLC Sells 25,783 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 27.9%, selling 25,783 shares and holding 66,668 shares worth $5.86 million by the end of the reporting period.
• Notable institutional stakeholders such as Pacer Advisors and Clark Capital Management made significant increases in their positions in NetApp, with Pacer Advisors increasing its stake by an astonishing 4,687.6%.
• NetApp reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.93, exceeding expectations, with a net margin of 18.05% and revenue growth of 3.8% year-over-year.

LPL Financial LLC lowered its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 27.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 66,668 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 25,783 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $5,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,294 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 500,117 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $58,054,000 after buying an additional 9,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 74.8% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 5,491 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Barclays raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total transaction of $918,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 288,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,160,004.40. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock worth $2,026,379 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $108.79. The company had a trading volume of 2,066,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,473,976. The firm has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.17 and a 200-day moving average of $100.97. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

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. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.