UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in NetApp by 9.9% during the first quarter, now owning 52,461 shares worth approximately $4.6 million.
• Insider selling included EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan and CEO George Kurian, reducing their shares by 4.12% and 2.91%, respectively, over recent transactions.
• NetApp's quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share will be distributed on October 22nd, reflecting an annual yield of 1.7%.

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,461 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,737 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in NetApp were worth $4,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 4,687.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $93,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,372 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 2.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 97.7% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,096,236 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $96,293,000 after acquiring an additional 541,837 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the first quarter worth $46,096,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in NetApp by 707.8% in the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 498,520 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $43,790,000 after acquiring an additional 436,805 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price target on NetApp in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.07.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $925,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,688 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,879,438.80. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $123,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,628 shares in the company, valued at $2,922,074.76. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,500 shares of company stock worth $3,045,445. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $124.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,868,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,786. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $109.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.08. 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 twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

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.