Perbak Capital Partners LLP Purchases New Shares in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Perbak Capital Partners LLP has invested $209,000 in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), acquiring 2,385 shares during the first quarter.
• Analysts are optimistic about NetApp, with Citigroup and Bank of America raising their price targets to $115 and $125 respectively, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased it to $130, reflecting overall strong interest in the stock.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, with a yield of 1.8%, to be paid on October 22nd, reinforcing its commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Perbak Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,385 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in NetApp by 54.9% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 0.4% during the first quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,608,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in NetApp by 25.6% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 902 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.1% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,507 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,462,280.90. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,208,812.90. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $2,921,775. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $118.75. 1,412,919 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,025,987. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $23.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.94.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Argus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $124.07.

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.