Fortem Financial Group LLC Has $1.20 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Fortem Financial Group LLC increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,373 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.8% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 23,584 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in NetApp by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 43,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,596,000 after buying an additional 2,340 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 18.3% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 12,536 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 651.5% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,454,000 after acquiring an additional 16,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP increased its position in NetApp by 4.3% during the second quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 4,602 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 51,864 shares of company stock worth $6,185,830. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded up $0.49 during trading on Monday, reaching $117.43. The company had a trading volume of 690,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,051,025. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.62 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $121.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.50. The stock has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. NetApp’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

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.