Sciencast Management LP Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP acquired 26,139 shares of NetApp, Inc. valued at approximately $2,296,000 in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Pacer Advisors Inc. and Federated Hermes Inc., significantly increased their holdings in NetApp during the same period.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52, representing a dividend yield of 1.8%, to be paid to stockholders on October 22nd.

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,139 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,296,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 375.0% during the 1st 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 period. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in NetApp by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors 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 Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total transaction of $123,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,922,074.76. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total transaction of $925,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,688 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,879,438.80. This trade represents a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,045,445. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $124.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,868,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,189,446. The firm's fifty day moving average is $109.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.92. The company has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 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 company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.