Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Lowers Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 39.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,453 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 15,461 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NTAP. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 152,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,660,024.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,660,024.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock traded up $1.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $99.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,745,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,878,995. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $99.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.94. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.92 and a 1-year high of $112.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.52 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Argus upgraded shares of NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.60.

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.