ING Groep NV Buys 28,180 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

ING Groep NV lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 230,884 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 28,180 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV owned approximately 0.11% of NetApp worth $20,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in NetApp by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,639 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,209 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,633,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in NetApp by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $110.47. The company had a trading volume of 2,257,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,831,781. The company has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.03 and a 12 month high of $112.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.79.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Argus upgraded shares of NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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