NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Purchased by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 79.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 519,615 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 230,111 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.26% of NetApp worth $45,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 14.5% during 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 period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 880,406 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in NetApp by 53.9% in the 4th 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, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,683,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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 research report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock 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 issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $117.79.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at $577,668. This represents a 78.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,998 shares of company stock worth $3,366,108 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $102.75 on Friday. 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 $20.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.21. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 36.62%.

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.

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