Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 327,708 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $38,040,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.16% of NetApp as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 929.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.93.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $98.68. 7,013,958 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,920,207. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. NetApp's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,724 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,032 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.