NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Valley Wealth Managers Inc.

Key Points

• Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 17.3% in the first quarter, holding a total of 45,262 shares valued at nearly $4 million.
• Other institutional investors have also shown interest in NetApp, with several firms like Ameriprise Financial and Invesco increasing their holdings, indicating strong institutional support for the company.
• NetApp has recently reported strong earnings, with an EPS of $1.93 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share.

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,262 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,670 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value 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 represents a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock traded up $1.97 on Monday, reaching $106.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,177,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,447,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $21.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $103.77 and its 200 day moving average is $102.31.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Barclays boosted their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $118.86.

NetApp 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.