MQS Management LLC Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,013 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 14.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $241,867,000 after buying an additional 729,394 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in NetApp by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $104.16. 1,423,116 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,908,098. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $102.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.03. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.42. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,697,354. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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, UBS Group dropped their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $117.79.

NetApp 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.