Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 39.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 36,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 10,494 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Morgan Stanley restated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $117.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 now owns 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,498 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,978. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NetApp stock traded down $1.00 on Tuesday, reaching $103.20. 2,124,412 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,938,717. The company has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.42. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm's 50-day moving average is $94.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.39.

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 (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 business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. NetApp's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.