NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Position Lifted by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 39.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,494 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 929.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total value of $695,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at $20,438,269.95. The trade was a 3.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total value of $29,828.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 455 shares in the company, valued at $44,940.35. The trade was a 39.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,498 shares of company stock worth $2,500,978 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $100.49 on Monday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $20.13 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $93.75 and its 200-day moving average is $105.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 36.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.79.

NetApp 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.