Simplicity Solutions LLC Trims Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Simplicity Solutions LLC lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 82.9% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,877,807.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $100.91 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.61 and its 200 day moving average is $88.18. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.92 and a twelve month high of $112.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.94.

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.