NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Holdings Reduced by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,647 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,059 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in NetApp were worth $1,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 2.3% in the first quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,684 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,639 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $126.15. 1,194,967 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,635,626. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The company has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a $0.52 dividend. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.81.

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.