Machina Capital S.A.S. Sells 6,865 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Machina Capital S.A.S. has reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 45.2% in the first quarter, leading to ownership of 8,332 shares worth approximately $732,000.
• NetApp's recent quarterly earnings report showed $1.93 earnings per share, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.90, with revenues totaling $1.73 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, yielding 1.98% on an annualized basis, with a payout ratio of 36.62%.

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 45.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,332 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,865 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after purchasing an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in NetApp by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,544,000 after acquiring an additional 529,471 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,986,330 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $346,653,000 after acquiring an additional 220,393 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in NetApp by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $335,215,000 after acquiring an additional 12,919 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in NetApp by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total value of $106,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% 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 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $118.86.

NetApp Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.05 on Monday, reaching $106.99. The company had a trading volume of 237,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,665. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $103.77 and its 200-day moving average is $102.31.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.