Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,970 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,639 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in NetApp were worth $8,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Barclays PLC raised its position in NetApp by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $96,873,000 after purchasing an additional 187,638 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 128.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,038 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 27,090 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NTAP stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.68. 7,013,958 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,920,207. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $90.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.01. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $20.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,438,269.95. The trade was a 3.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,724 shares of company stock worth $2,520,032 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $118.93.

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.