NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Acquired by Affinity Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 71.2% during the first quarter, owning a total of 12,560 shares valued at approximately $1.1 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds now own 92.17% of NetApp's stock, with Notable investments including a 929.6% increase from Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.
• NetApp recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.93, exceeding consensus estimates, as revenue increased by 3.8% year-over-year.

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 71.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,560 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,222 shares during the period. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 929.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 375.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares in the company, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company'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 directly owned 296,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,208,812.90. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock worth $2,026,379. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $108.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its 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 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors 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 1.9%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is 36.62%.

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.

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