NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Boosted by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 46.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,908 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,112 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in NetApp by 82.9% during 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 period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $126.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 183,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,949,087. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $25.95 billion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $124.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.70.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, 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 sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other NetApp news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp 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.