Navellier & Associates Inc. Trims Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Navellier & Associates Inc. has reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 8.1%, now owning 41,815 shares valued at approximately $3.89 million.
• A number of analysts have adjusted their ratings for NetApp, with Barclays raising its price target to $117.00 while Wells Fargo lowered its target to $100.00, indicating mixed sentiments among analysts.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.98%, reflecting a payout ratio of 36.62%.

Navellier & Associates Inc. lessened its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,815 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,670 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in NetApp by 54.9% in the first 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 period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in NetApp by 929.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its position in NetApp by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total value of $106,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 296,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,208,812.90. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $1.90 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $106.84. The company had a trading volume of 310,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,085,244. 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 has a market cap of $21.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $103.77 and a 200-day moving average of $102.31.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $118.86.

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.