Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $5.47 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 18% in the first quarter, now owning 62,273 shares valued at $5.47 million.
• NetApp recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52, representing an annual dividend yield of 1.8%, with a payout ratio of 36.75%.
• Analysts have varying price targets for NetApp, with the average target price set at $123.64, reflecting a consensus rating of "Hold."

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 18.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,273 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 13,674 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $5,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in NetApp by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,250,000 after acquiring an additional 10,494 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its position in NetApp by 55.8% during the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 221,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $19,492,000 after acquiring an additional 79,457 shares during the period. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $321,000. UNICOM Systems Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at $13,483,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at $2,050,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total transaction of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value of $105,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,802 shares of company stock valued at $2,951,604. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $4.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.79. 2,552,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,959,398. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $106.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.07.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 123.24% and a net margin of 17.77%.NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Argus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on NetApp in a report on Thursday. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $124.07.

About NetApp

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.