NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Acquired by DNB Asset Management AS

DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,848 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in 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. raised 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 period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1 %

NetApp stock opened at $118.35 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The stock has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $125.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

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.