M&T Bank Corp Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,213 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 11.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management grew its holdings in NetApp by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 4.3% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 11.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted 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 own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock opened at $121.95 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.62 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $122.90 and its 200 day moving average is $123.99.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen upped their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.40.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.