Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 0.9%, owning 573,400 shares worth approximately $50.37 million after selling 5,100 shares in the first quarter.
• NetApp reported earnings of $1.93 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $1.73 billion, marking a 3.8% year-over-year increase.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Ameriprise Financial Inc., increased their stakes in NetApp, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 573,400 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 5,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.28% of NetApp worth $50,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 375.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 285 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $109.40. 1,306,594 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,033,521. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.05. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total value of $918,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 288,305 shares in the company, valued at $31,160,004.40. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,302 shares of company stock worth $2,026,379. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.21.

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.