Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 3.3% during Q1, now owning 1,744,727 shares worth approximately $153 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Manchester Capital Management LLC and Itau Unibanco Holding S.A., have significantly increased their positions in NetApp over recent quarters.
• NetApp recently reported $1.93 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate, and has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,744,727 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 59,568 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.86% of NetApp worth $153,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4,687.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $93,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,372 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 5,858.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 880,406 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,375,363,000 after acquiring an additional 597,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after purchasing an additional 550,607 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $4.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $112.79. The company had a trading volume of 2,552,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,057,158. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $106.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.24. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 17.77% and a return on equity of 123.22%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $124.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,802 shares of company stock worth $2,951,604. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.