NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Decreased by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,275 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 164 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 8.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,301,000 after purchasing an additional 24,651 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 20.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 7,318 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in NetApp by 4.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $24,057,000 after acquiring an additional 8,305 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,059,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in NetApp by 202.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 266,262 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,886,000 after acquiring an additional 178,135 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $1,003,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,017,276. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,110 shares of company stock worth $5,077,596 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock opened at $126.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $25.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $121.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.69.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.20.

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.