Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Makes New $228,000 Investment in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Miller Howard Investments Inc. acquired 2,142 shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) in Q2, with the investment valued at approximately $228,000.
• Insider trading activity includes CEO George Kurian selling 8,750 shares worth over $1 million, representing a 3.08% reduction in his holdings.
• NetApp recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 1.7%.

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY bought a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,142 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 375.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.07.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $123,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,922,074.76. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,750 shares of company stock valued at $3,255,778. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $122.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 529,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,076,129. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $111.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.04. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The firm has a market cap of $24.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.75%.

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.