Virtu Financial LLC Invests $1.15 Million in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has invested approximately $1.15 million in NetApp, acquiring 13,130 shares of the data storage provider in the first quarter.
• Insiders sold a total of 18,302 shares of NetApp stock worth nearly $1.9 million over the last 90 days, indicating a slight decrease in their ownership percentages.
• Analysts have set varied price targets for NetApp, with a consensus average target of $119.21, reflecting a mix of hold and buy ratings across different firms.

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,130 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,153,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Entropy Technologies LP increased its stake in NetApp by 148.9% during the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 12,973 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,140,000 after buying an additional 7,760 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in NetApp by 12.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $308,107,000 after buying an additional 384,362 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in NetApp by 38.3% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 58,100 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 16,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $320,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total value of $918,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 288,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,160,004.40. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,302 shares of company stock worth $2,026,379 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTAP. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays increased their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $119.21.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.59. 1,129,010 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,026,510. The company has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $105.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.04. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

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.