Empowered Funds LLC Increases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 72.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,819 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,135 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.07% of NetApp worth $16,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 59.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $211,637,000 after acquiring an additional 613,583 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,313,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,074,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in NetApp by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $152,270,000 after purchasing an additional 342,415 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Barclays boosted their price target on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Loop Capital raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

NetApp Trading Down 0.7 %

NetApp stock opened at $117.30 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.41 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $121.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 40.63%.

About NetApp

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.