Invst LLC Sells 295 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Invst LLC trimmed its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,497 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Invst LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PGGM Investments grew its position in NetApp by 1.8% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 59,661 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $7,141,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $731,000. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 12.6% during the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,044 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,304,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $3.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $119.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,385,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,609,858. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $125.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.25. The company has a market capitalization of $24.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

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.