RFG Advisory LLC Takes $610,000 Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,733 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $610,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 254.8% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth 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 bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,257,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now 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 available at this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Susquehanna boosted their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.38.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $122.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,134,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,934,888. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $135.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $126.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. NetApp’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

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.