Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 508,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 8,358 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.25% of NetApp worth $44,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in NetApp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in NetApp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 34,152 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NTAP. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $117.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,590,514 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $0.92 on Wednesday, reaching $107.61. 1,400,089 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,923,130. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.42. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $99.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.94.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.