Westpac Banking Corp Has $4.17 Million Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 25.4% in the first quarter, owning 47,523 shares valued at approximately $4,174,000.
• Insider trading activity saw CEO George Kurian sell 8,500 shares of NetApp stock, resulting in a 2.86% decrease in ownership, while other executives also reduced their stakes.
• NetApp reported earnings of $1.93 per share in its last quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a 3.8% increase in revenue year-over-year, with an annualized dividend yield of 2.0%.

Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 25.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,523 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in NetApp were worth $4,174,000 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,375,363,000 after acquiring an additional 597,956 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $308,107,000 after acquiring an additional 384,362 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,986,330 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,653,000 after acquiring an additional 220,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp 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. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.21.

NetApp Stock Down 0.7%

NTAP stock traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.79. The company had a trading volume of 2,066,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,033,285. 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 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The company has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $105.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.04.

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. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.