Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 68,649 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,223,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in NetApp by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in NetApp by 127.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on NTAP. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,334 shares of company stock worth $5,103,798 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $134.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,919,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,060. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $27.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $119.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.47.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.