NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Stevens Capital Management LP

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP has significantly reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 72.8%, owning only 2,413 shares after selling 6,447 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have altered their positions in NetApp, with 92.17% of the stock currently owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• NetApp recently reported $1.93 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.98%.

Stevens Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 72.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,413 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,447 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in NetApp were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in NetApp by 54.9% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This trade represents a 39.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,590,976.84. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,302 shares of company stock worth $1,920,479. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $118.86.

NetApp Trading Down 0.4%

NTAP traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $105.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 264,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,073,364. The stock has a market cap of $21.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.42. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business's 50-day moving average is $103.97 and its 200-day moving average is $102.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.80 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.62%.

NetApp Company 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.