Entropy Technologies LP Buys 7,760 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Entropy Technologies LP increased its stake in NetApp by 148.9% in the first quarter, owning 12,973 shares worth approximately $1.14 million.
• Insider sales included CEO George Kurian selling 8,500 shares for about $918,680, resulting in a 2.86% ownership decrease.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, with a yield of 2.0% and a payout ratio of 36.62%.

Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 148.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,973 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,760 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $308,107,000 after acquiring an additional 384,362 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter worth $39,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in NetApp by 38.3% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 58,100 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 16,100 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter worth $320,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in NetApp by 3.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 370,570 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,551,000 after purchasing an additional 11,115 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This trade represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% 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 valued at $2,026,379. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.21.

NetApp Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,129,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,026,510. The firm has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.04.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.62%.

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.