NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,453 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,418 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.4% during the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.3% during the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 5.5 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $122.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $77.56 and a one year high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $122.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.96.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Bank of America boosted their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price target on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. Insiders own 0.47% 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.