Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires 84,473 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 1,378.9%, acquiring an additional 84,473 shares, bringing its total shares to 90,599, valued at approximately $7.96 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their positions in NetApp, with Pacer Advisors Inc. increasing its position by 4,687.6% and Ameriprise Financial Inc. raising theirs by 14.5%.
• NetApp recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 1.9% and a dividend payout ratio of 36.62%.

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 1,378.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,599 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 84,473 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in NetApp were worth $7,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 4,687.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $93,874,000 after buying an additional 1,046,372 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,942,000 after buying an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,375,363,000 after buying an additional 597,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in NetApp by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $327,848,000 after buying an additional 550,607 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 0.7%

NetApp stock opened at $108.79 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $105.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.68.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value 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 represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 296,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,208,812.90. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,302 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,379 over the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on 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 cut their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $119.21.

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.

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