XTX Topco Ltd Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Key Points

• XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. by 640.2%, owning 29,214 shares valued at approximately $2.57 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• NetApp reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.93 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and demonstrated a 3.8% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $2.08 with a yield of 1.96%.

XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 640.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,214 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 25,267 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in NetApp were worth $2,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NetApp by 39.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,250,000 after buying an additional 10,494 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $5,151,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 55.8% during the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 221,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $19,492,000 after purchasing an additional 79,457 shares during the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $321,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in NetApp by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,978 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 2.9%

NTAP stock traded down $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $101.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,414,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,410,739. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $20.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $104.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.21.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the company'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 transaction of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $118.86.

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.