Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.52 Million Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 57.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,335 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,314 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,069,617,000 after buying an additional 429,343 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,544,000 after purchasing an additional 529,471 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in NetApp by 8.0% in 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 valued at $346,653,000 after acquiring an additional 220,393 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $335,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,919 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 1.6%

NTAP stock traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $106.25. 2,872,672 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,924,374. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Susquehanna downgraded NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $117.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now directly owns 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. This trade represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,549,860. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Company 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.