NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Position Cut by Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC

Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,339 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 532 shares during the period. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 254.8% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,257,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,205 shares of company stock valued at $5,193,529 in the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NTAP. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

NetApp Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.03 on Monday, reaching $130.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,688,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,993,406. The company has a 50-day moving average of $118.36 and a 200-day moving average of $102.89. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $131.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.10%.

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.