Royal Bank of Canada Has $125.92 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 1.8%, acquiring an additional 24,797 shares to hold approximately 0.70% of the company's stock, valued at around $125.9 million.
• CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock, representing a 2.78% decrease in his ownership, while other insiders have collectively sold a total of 27,500 shares in the past 90 days.
• NetApp has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.8% based on an annualized payout, and a current payout ratio of 36.75%.

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,433,513 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 24,797 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.70% of NetApp worth $125,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its position in NetApp by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 11,960 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,118 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $247,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $975,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,090 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in NetApp by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 28,654 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Argus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,208,812.90. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm'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 owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,921,775. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,412,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,025,987. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $107.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.28. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

NetApp Company 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.