LSV Asset Management Sells 23,600 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management has reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 4.1% to a total of 551,863 shares, worth approximately $48.5 million, following the sale of 23,600 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have varied opinions on NetApp, with target prices ranging from $100 to $117, while the company holds an average rating of "Hold" with a consensus target price of $118.86.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, establishing an annualized dividend of $2.08 and a dividend yield of 2.1%.

LSV Asset Management lessened its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 551,863 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 23,600 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned 0.27% of NetApp worth $48,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its position in NetApp by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in NetApp by 54.9% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on NTAP. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One investment 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, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $118.86.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $102.11. 99,750 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,051,033. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $104.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.73. The company has a market cap of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.80 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. 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.