Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 4,687.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,046,372 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.53% of NetApp worth $93,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $306,440,000. 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% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in NetApp by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in NetApp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,544,000 after acquiring an additional 529,471 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.
NetApp Trading Down 1.2%
Shares of NetApp stock traded down $1.32 on Tuesday, hitting $105.60. 330,396 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,078,906. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $103.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.24. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $21.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.
NetApp Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $118.86.
Read Our Latest Report on NTAP
NetApp Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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