Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $236,000 Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,682 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the first quarter worth about $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 over the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $97.95 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.92 and a 12 month high of $112.48. The firm has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.99 and its 200-day moving average is $88.42.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 45.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target 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. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.94.

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.