NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Holdings Lowered by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,017 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,650 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $74,257,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 689.7% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 804,237 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $61,026,000 after buying an additional 702,391 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 10,320.5% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 577,504 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,821,000 after acquiring an additional 571,962 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $84,202,000 after acquiring an additional 266,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 899,155 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $68,228,000 after purchasing an additional 179,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.60.

NetApp Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $107.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.29 and a 52-week high of $112.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.62.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,877,807.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was 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 owns 144,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.