Prudential PLC Purchases 47,469 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Prudential PLC significantly increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 110.0% during the 1st quarter, holding 90,613 shares valued at approximately $7.96 million.
• Several hedge funds and institutional investors have also boosted their positions in NetApp, with ownership by such entities reaching 92.17% of the stock.
• NetApp reported a 1.93 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, representing a 1.9% yield.

Prudential PLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 110.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,613 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 47,469 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $7,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,294 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,543,000 after buying an additional 2,209 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $218,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 500,117 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $58,054,000 after buying an additional 9,154 shares during the period. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 74.8% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 5,491 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $663,000 after buying an additional 2,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $108.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,066,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,473,976. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total transaction of $918,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 288,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,160,004.40. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.21.

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.