Primecap Management Co. CA Reduces Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Primecap Management Co. CA reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 5.9%, selling 718,249 shares, and now holds approximately 5.65% of the company, worth about $1.01 billion.
• Several hedge funds, including Itau Unibanco and Manchester Capital Management, significantly increased their stakes in NetApp during recent quarters.
• NetApp recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.0%.

Primecap Management Co. CA trimmed its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,502,090 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 718,249 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA owned approximately 5.65% of NetApp worth $1,010,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in NetApp by 929.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 375.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on NTAP. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. 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 research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $118.86.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 296,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,208,812.90. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares in the company, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock opened at $102.01 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $104.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS 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 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. 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 2.0%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NTAP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.