USA Financial Formulas Grows Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

USA Financial Formulas raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 140,240.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,034 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,024 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas' holdings in NetApp were worth $1,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in NetApp by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $174,449,000 after acquiring an additional 47,040 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,051 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $159,398,000 after acquiring an additional 24,416 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,519,700 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $133,978,000 after purchasing an additional 39,462 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in NetApp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,270,712 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $112,026,000 after acquiring an additional 6,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in NetApp by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $84,202,000 after buying an additional 266,812 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded down $0.35 on Monday, reaching $108.15. 1,841,195 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,855,360. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.33 and a twelve month high of $112.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.60.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.60.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of NetApp 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 in the company, valued at $15,660,024.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 871 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total value of $770,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 152,409 shares in the company, valued at $15,660,024.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

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.